“What we’re seeing is the kind of surge tactics we haven’t seen in the Channel for quite some time,” said the source.
French enforcement capacity remained limited despite multi-million pound funding agreements with British authorities.
“It’s an attempt to overwhelm and stretch the French police,” said the source. Resource constraints on French beaches allowed widespread departures across multiple locations throughout the morning.
“Even with the millions of pounds of extra funding the French are getting from the UK, they still can’t be everywhere at once,” said the source.
The mass crossings pushed total illegal sea arrivals for the year past 14,000 people.
“And there’s no doubt this has worked today. Hundreds have already managed to cross, and the day is far from over,” said the source.
Political Reactions and Government Response
On Hardelot beach, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp confronted French gendarmes as dozens of migrants boarded a boat in shallow water without physical intervention from officers.
“Our order is to let them go.
We just have to say to them ‘don’t do that it’s dangerous’,” said an unnamed French gendarme to Chris Philp.
Philp questioned the lack of direct physical measures by beach patrols to stop the departures.
“So your orders are not to intervene,” said Philp to a French police officer.
French authorities maintained that entering water to stop boats creates immediate safety risks for passengers.
“We have to protect them,” said a French police officer to Philp. Following the encounter on the beach, Philp criticized the government’s financial agreements with French law enforcement.
