A French police officer was seen single-handedly foiling an attempt by a group of people to cross the English Channel this morning in a dinghy by stabbing the inflated boat with a knife, as defiant asylum seekers say ‘we’re not afraid to die’.
Video footage shows how a group of refugees and migrants aboard the boat were attempting to follow a short stream leading to the sea just metres away, watched by a group of French police.
After facing criticism for standing around and even taking photographs of would-be migrants in previous weeks, police challenged the group and the boat came to a halt.
One officer was then seen holding a sharp implement, believed to be a knife, and stabbing the sides of the boat to make it unusable. It comes after 1,634 people made the crossing in the last week.
Images later showed the crumpled boat completely deflated with life jackets scattered around, as those on the boat left the scene and returned to a camp where they had been staying.
One man who was waiting to cross the Channel said that despite the severe risks of making the perilous crossing across the world’s busiest shipping lane, most will never stop trying to reach the UK.
‘When you leave your country we can’t go back we have to reach our goal,’ he said.
‘That’s why when you take the money to the [smugglers] once, you have to go. If you want to go back they will take half of your money, that’s why everyone tries to go.
Video footage shows how a group of refugees and migrants aboard the boat were attempting to follow a short stream leading to the sea just metres away
After facing criticism for standing around and even taking photographs of would-be migrants in previous weeks, police challenged the group and the boat came to a halt
One police officer then approached the boat and appeared to slash its sides with a knife
‘We’re not afraid to die because there is a problem [at home], if we go there I’m dying. I have to reach my destination.’
The boat filmed being stopped by police took a different tactic to most recent crossings, which have seen smugglers inflate the boat out at sea and those making the journey wading out to chest-height water before being pulled on board.
This is an attempt to evade French police and border officers, who have only been able to intervene before refugees and migrants enter the water, unless they are rescuing someone who is at risk of drowning.
Asylum seekers and the criminal gangs who exploit them have been taking advantage of the fine weather this week, with 27 small boats carrying 1,634 people arriving in the UK since June 14.
On Friday, 437 people arrived on seven small boats with further crossings expected today on what is expected to be the hottest day of the year so far.
Trips across the Channel have become far more deadly over time, with 73 people passing away while trying to reach the UK in 2024 – five times the number in 2023.
It is thought this is due to ruthless smuggling gangs switching up tactics and heavily overcrowding boats, often forcing 80 people or more to cram into each dinghy.
French authorities are reportedly set to introduce a new maritime doctrine from the beginning of next month which would allow police to intercept dinghies up to 300 metres from the shore.
One man told how he is ‘not afraid to die’ while trying to cross the Channel, adding: ‘We have to reach our goal’
Those hoping to cross the Channel fled as police approached the boat
One officer then grabbed a knife and punctured the inflated dinghy, making it unusable
He was then seen pulling the boat out of the shallow water
Asylum seekers and the criminal gangs who exploit them have been taking advantage of the fine weather this week, with 27 small boats carrying 1,634 people arriving in the UK since June 14
Life jackets were filmed abandoned around the remains of the dinghy as the group left the area
It comes after extraordinary scenes on Tuesday showed dozens of French police and coastguards looking on as men and women crammed onto an overloaded boat off Gravelines beach, near Calais.
More than 50 police tried to stop as many as 200 migrants reaching the sea – and with the aid of teargas grenades stopped more than half.
But those who dodged police simply waited for the so-called ‘taxi boat’ to ferry them across the Channel while police remained under strict rules to not apprehend anyone in the sea.
The Prime Minister this week highlighted UK plans to slap travel bans and asset freezes on people-smuggling kingpins in talks with fellow world leaders at the G7 summit in Canada.
He held one-on-one talks with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni and Downing Street said afterwards that he ‘raised the UK’s world-leading work on people-smuggling sanctions’.
Meanwhile, a Downing Street spokesman said Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron agreed during a meeting at the G7 in Canada that the Channel situation was ‘deteriorating’.
The pair both believe that ‘migration should be a key focus’ and they should ‘continue to work closely with other partners to find innovative ways to drive forward progress’, according to a No.10 readout.
But French police unions are sceptical that the proposed measures can realistically implemented, due to limited means and human resources.
“It’s going to require quite a large number of boats, because we have to cover a strip of 300 metres along 180 kilometres so… this means aerial surveillance too,” Alliance police union representative Julien Soir said, adding it would required allocating “hundreds of (additional) officers”.
This week, however, there was little sign of any deterrent in action as gangs who organise the crossings continued to outwit French police.
