French police launch tear gas to clear migrants from beach | World | News
French police have fired tear gas at Channel migrants trying to reach the UK just hours after Downing Street admitted the crisis is getting worse.
Dozens of people covered their faces as plumes of gas into the air during the early morning attempt to board a dinghy in Gravelines.
And Number 10 on Tuesday morning admitted the small boats crisis is a “deteriorating situation”, following crunch talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister met French President Emmanuel Macron at the G7 Summit this afternoon.
“Discussing the Middle East, they both agreed on the need to find a route to peace through diplomacy and dialogue. They agreed that this should be a key focus for G7 partners in the next two days.
“They looked ahead to the upcoming UK-France Summit in July and agreed that their teams should pursue high-ambition outcomes that deliver for the British and French people.
“Migration should be a key focus given the deteriorating situation in the Channel, they confirmed – adding that they should continue to work closely with other partners to find innovative ways to drive forward progress.
“They also agreed that the summit presents an opportune moment to further enhance our existing defence and security co-operation.
“Both leaders looked ahead to discussing Ukraine at the G7 tomorrow and underscored their enduring support for securing a just and lasting peace and keeping up the pressure on Putin.”
But extraordinary pictures from Gravelines show that some of the migrants were still able to reach the waiting boat.
They show how the dinghy was being shadowed by a French police marine vessel, with a couple of people piloting the dinghy.
Dozens of people then wade out into the water and are helped on to the rubber boat – with the French police remaining on the beach.
At least 16,317 migrants have successfully crossed the Channel this year, leading to fears 50,000 asylum seekers will arrive this year.
But France has intercepted just 10,082 migrants this year, meaning they have intercepted only 38% of crossings.
Paris is drawing up plans to intercept dinghies in the water and “trialled” tactics on Friday, with officers surging into the water to block people reaching a so-called taxi boat.
But fury has intensified in recent weeks over the large number of arrivals, despite repeated vows of action by the French.
And the situation in France is becoming more dangerous “by the day”, critics have warned.
Two migrants have been shot dead in a camp near Dunkirk over the weekend. There have also been reports of hammer attacks.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: “For several consecutive days there have been shootings and hammer attacks at migrant camps in northern France.
“Two dead and several wounded. The gangs are getting more dangerous by the day.”
Home Office figures revealed 919 people crossed in 14 boats on Friday, while 134 arrived on Saturday.
The Prime Minister, speaking ahead of meeting Emmanuel Macron at the G7, said he wants “more co-operation” on small boats amid a record-breaking year of arrivals.
Asked whether he was satisfied with the response from French border authorities, Sir Keir said: “One of the things we’ve worked hard at is improving the relations with the French in relation to the work we both need to do to stop these boat crossings, which I’m determined we will absolutely bear down on.
“Nobody should be making that journey.
“As a result of that we are seeing a much greater co-operation in northern France – I want to see more co-operation in northern France, and it’s an issue that I have raised and will raise again with President Macron.
“We have good relations between the Home Secretary and the interior minister now that we’re working on jointly.
“It’s one of the issues I’ll be discussing – not just with Macron, actually, but discussing it with Giorgia Meloni, Freidrich Merz, and others.”
Downing Street said the Prime Minister had “lengthy discussions” about migration with his Italian counterpart during his first bilateral meeting at the summit in the Canadian Rockies on Sunday.
“The Prime Minister raised the UK’s world-leading work on people smuggling sanctions, adding that he looked forward to working with other European countries on this approach,” Number 10 said.
