French police eventually intercepted a migrant boat to stop them crossing into Britain – but they now face an investigation by their country’s human rights watchdog.
A video online shows police using knives to cut apart a rubber boat stuck in the sand on a beach near Calais.
It soon deflated and the approximately 25 people aboard were forced to return to the shore of Oue-Plage.
No one was injured during the incident on Sunday and the water was below knee height when the intervention took place.
But migrant charity Utopia 56 claimed the practice was illegal and put people’s lives at risk, as the boat was technically at sea.
French police have strict rules that prevent them from intervening when boats are in the water to prevent putting people at risk – and their union has protested the tactic.
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The charity has now filed a report with France’s Defender of Rights – the country’s main human rights watchdog – and has also filed a complaint with the IGGN National Gendarmerie Inspectorate, an organization that investigates complaints against the police.
Utopia 56 wrote on Instagram: “This video was shot by one of our volunteers in Oye-Plage on Sunday.
“You can see policemen cutting a boat submerged in water with people on board.”
It claimed: “This is an extremely dangerous practice for passengers but has been used regularly for many years.”
A spokesman for the Pas-de-Calais Gendarmerie said the intervention was “completely within the law” as the boat was essentially already on dry land.
He said: “It was not a boat in the water – it had run aground and failed to float.
“Authorities disabled the boat to prevent it from returning to the sea and thus avoiding further endangering the lives of migrants during the crossing.”
A £660 million deal signed last month between Britain and France commits them to stop more boats coming up the river before they can pick up migrants bound for Britain.
Although a rare move, police went into shallow waters to scuttle an inflatable boat filled with migrants in 2024 and again last July.
Keir Starmer’s spokesman at the time said, “This was a significant moment and we welcome this action. We want to see stronger action.”
Riot officers threatened migrants with batons and pepper spray in waist-deep water at Gravelines beach near Dunkirk last June, but failed to stop the departure.
This brings the total number of crossings to close to 200,000 since the small boat crisis began in 2018. 92 people arrived on two boats on Monday, taking the death toll to 199,920.
On Sunday, the bodies of a woman and a teenage girl, believed to be from Sudan, were found on a migrant boat moored off a French beach.
They are believed to have died from crushing or suffocation after the boat’s engine exploded.
