France will start intercepting small boats in Channel following British demands
France has agreed to begin intercepting migrant vessels in the Channel, following months of insistence from the United Kingdom.
The change in policy follows the Prime Minister wrote to the French leader asking him to support the plan and saying there presently "lack any effective preventive measure" in the Channel.
French maritime police have been authorized to stop the migrant vessels at sea, but exclusively prior to they've picked up their migrants, according to authoritative confirmation.
French police have rarely acted to prevent the heavily loaded boats departing from the shoreline because it is viewed as excessively high a risk to both officers and individuals.
"It is crucial that we implement these tactics this period... We have zero effective prevention in the Channel waters."
Now, a French naval police representative says officers will start taking action at sea, with the aim of safeguarding human life.
Notably, the spokesperson ruled out the use of entanglement devices to intercept boats, which had previously been reported as a potential technique to snarl the engines of the boats.
The decision to intervene at all is a significant step forward, following a brief shift towards a stricter strategy this summer, which dropped off when the previous government official departed from office.
That was highlighted in July, in the run-up to a meeting between the Prime Minister and President, when authorities were witnessed wading into the sea to slash the hulls of a vessel.
Now French authorities will once more be permitted to intercept boats prior to they pick up asylum-seeking individuals from the beaches of northern France, although it's not clear how the vessels will be stopped.
Strong winds are presently postponing the commencement of intervention operations and the people-smuggling gangs will be looking for ways to adjust to evade detection, as they have done so often in the previous instances.
The Home Office and the Prime Minister's office have been approached for comment.
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