Andrew HardingBBC correspondent, Ecault beach, south of Boulogne
Watch: BBC on French beach as police slash migrant ‘taxi-boat’ heading to UK
French police have waded into shallow waters off a beach south of Boulogne and used knives to slash an inflatable small boat – packed with men, women and children – that was wallowing, dangerously, in the waves.
All those onboard clambered to safety as the boat collapsed in chaotic scenes.
The intervention was highly unusual.
French police usually follow strict rules that bar them from going into the sea in case they put lives at risk.
“Let’s go in,” said one of the gendarmes, pulling off his body armour, and taking out a small knife. His colleagues took their heavy armour off, too, placing equipment in the back of a nearby police car before rushing into the water.
There had been some speculation that this rare incident could be evidence that the French police – under growing pressure to stop a surge of small boat migrant crossings to the UK – are changing their tactics.
But they have made it clear to the BBC that police have not adopted any new tactics in dealing with small boat launches, that the rules forbidding intervention in the water remains in place and officers must continue to prioritise safety on the beaches. They are allowed to intervene, however, if they believe lives are at immediate risk.
Well-placed sources in France have told us that the procedural changes now being considered will almost certainly focus on the use of patrol boats at sea to intercept the “taxi-boats” before they’re
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