https://www.politico.eu/article/france-maritime-police-migrants-english-channel-small-boats-risk/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cULrGtqHmc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vv5dR5a1iA

UK PM Sunak has pledged to “stop the boats” from crossing the Channel and said he would pay millions of pounds to France for help.

French police have risked the lives of illegal migrants trying to cross the English Channel to the U.K. in small boats by using dangerous tactics, including puncturing boats and threatening migrants with pepper spray, several newspapers reported on Sunday.

A joint investigation by the Observer, Lighthouse Reports, Le Monde and Der Spiegel found that the French maritime police, which receives some funding from the U.K. government, has tried physically to force small boats to turn around to stop them from reaching Britain.

Footage, leaked documents and witness testimony obtained by the papers reveal that methods used by the police included puncturing boats so that illegal migrants had to swim back to shore, slamming into a small boat while threatening passengers with pepper spray and circling a boat, leading to waves flooding the dinghy.

The U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to “stop the boats” from crossing the Channel and said he would pay millions of pounds to France for surveillance and border controls to stop illegal migrants from traveling.

French authorities have previously said they won’t intercept illegal migrant boats going to the U.K. — despite requests from the British government — because it contravened international maritime law.

One search and rescue expert quoted by the Observer said that a maneuver used by police — where a vessel is seen heading quickly towards the dinghy, before turning sharply to create waves — could cause “a mass casualty event.”