Migrants claim French police tear gassed them and left them …
Three migrants have claimed that French police fired tear gas into small boats as they attempted to cross the Channel and left them freezing and soaked on beaches. The testimonies, given to aid workers in northern France[1] following the incidents and shared with i, shed new light on the methods used by French authorities to crack down on the journeys. Humanitarian groups in northern France also said they had been told of police kicking migrants and taunting them with chants of "welcome to the UK".
The Home Office[2] confirmed that police had been facing "increased tensions" around the coast, leading to "challenging conditions" for officers. A 16-year-old boy said that he was setting sail from Gravelines, close to Dunkirk, in the middle of the night on 7 February when police arrived and threw tear gas into the vessel. Those on board dived into the water to escape the gas but he was caught by authorities, who left him soaked and "freezing" on the beach.
"We started at 12pm, when we are in the sea, the police come and they shouted gas to us. They fired the boat. We were in the boat, all the people jumped in the water, just I stayed alone inside.
I tried to stop the fire," he said in testimony given to aid workers in Calais, shared with i. "The boat continued to move and the police shouted at me again. They tried to stop me, but I didn't stop.
Then they caught me. The police did not take me to hospital and I had a lot of bruises on my legs. I was alone, nobody helped me for one night, my body was freezing, I was not feeling my legs."
A Syrian man, who was also on board, said he saw one man get hit in the face by the gas. After police seized the boat, the migrants claimed they were left in wet clothes sat on the beach until volunteers took them to hospital. "I am from Syria, I walked three days to Calais and slept two days in the jungle.
Then, we went to the sea and the French police came. Police took the boat. They shot tear gas at us.
We landed in the mud. The gas grenade came in the face of one guy, in his eye. I felt it too," he said.
"We sat for two hours on the beach. The police never helped us, just they shot us with gas. From this time we are very tired and we don't know what we do."
Another man said he was hit with gas on a beach in Calais during an incident in the early morning of 26 March. He described being "shot at" with "gas" by police during the incident.
Related Article
Utopia56, a humanitarian organisation based in northern France, said that other migrants had also reported tear gas being used against them while already at sea, with aid workers given accounts of the practice "very often". They had also heard of police allegedly kicking people as they tried to leave and taunting them with shouts of "welcome to the UK".
"On 7 February, it was a boat of 16 people including two minors. They were trying to get inside the boat and police used gas to stop them. They threw gas bombs onto the boat near the engine.
It was very scary," said Amelie Moyart, a Utopia volunteer. "We've heard of them shouting at people, and kicking some guys. It can be really violent.
They shouted 'welcome to the UK' then just left them, wet and in shock in minus temperatures. Later another police teamed helped them back to shore and called us." "The second incident, on 26 March, involved a boat with women and children.
As they were getting in the boat, the police used gas on everyone, then they left. These are the two incidents we took testimony from, but it happens a lot. They use without asking them to stop first, that's the problem.
Since December, we've seen it more and more." The use of tear gas has not been seen by the aid workers directly, who say they are not present when the boats depart. But a video shared with the Telegraph[3] last year showed police firing tear gas at migrants on the shore, as they attempted to board a small boat. It is not clear whether the gas is being used by the National Police or Gendarmerie.
Neither responded to a request for comment. In March, Amnesty International France condemned the French's police use of crowd control weaponry such as tear gas[4] and rubber bullets during demonstrations against planned pension reforms during demonstrations and riots. A viral video appeared to show officers from the special Brav-M motorbike unit spraying tear gas at journalist Amar Taoualit as he tried to report.
Border operations are heavily subsidised by the UK Government. Last month, Rishi Sunak announced a further GBP480m deal with France towards the cost of policing the border[5], including doubling the number of French police officers on the coast and stationing British officials in France. It followed a 2021 payment of GBP55m from the UK to France towards patrols, surveillance and border security infrastructure[6] on the northern coast.
The money reportedly helped the French deploy an additional 800 officers to patrol beaches[7]. In 2020, France doubled the number of officers deployed each day on French beaches. Mr Sunak insists that bolstered funding for French policing efforts will help cut the number of crossings and prove a "sensible investment".
Responding to the allegations at the French coast, a Home Office spokesperson said: "We are aware of an increase in tensions among groups of migrants in Northern France which has led to challenging conditions for French law enforcement. "We continue to work with the French to tackle the unacceptable rise in dangerous Channel crossings, and already this year we have prevented over 4,500 crossing attempts." More than 45,000 people arrived in the UK from France last year, with warnings that the conflict in Sudan could lead more people to make the crossing[8] in the hope of seeking asylum in the UK.
Migrants are feared to be using longer routes across the Channel to avoid heavy policing in Calais, raising fears of a new small boats tragedy[9]. The shortest Channel crossing route is from Calais to Dover, but volunteers told i that the intensification of policing around Calais had pushed those wanting to cross the Channel further along the French coast,[10] lengthening the journey to the UK and increasing the risk that small boats will collapse mid-journey. People smugglers are increasingly packing migrants onto dangerous DIY plywood boats[11], thought to be purpose-built for the crossing.
These are cheaper than dinghies and can be built to accommodate larger numbers of people, increasing the profit margins for smuggling networks.
References
- ^ aid workers in northern France (inews.co.uk)
- ^ Home Office (inews.co.uk)
- ^ But a video shared with the Telegraph (www.youtube.com)
- ^ Amnesty International France condemned the French's police use of crowd control weaponry such as tear gas (inews.co.uk)
- ^ GBP480m deal with France towards the cost of policing the border (inews.co.uk)
- ^ GBP55m from the UK to France towards patrols, surveillance and border security infrastructure (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ deploy an additional 800 officers to patrol beaches (www.thetimes.co.uk)
- ^ the conflict in Sudan could lead more people to make the crossing (inews.co.uk)
- ^ new small boats tragedy (inews.co.uk)
- ^ pushed those wanting to cross the Channel further along the French coast, (inews.co.uk)
- ^ increasingly packing migrants onto dangerous DIY plywood boats (inews.co.uk)