French police crowd Calais beaches after migrants get across unhindered
Although the French have increased their presence on Calais beaches, they still rarely intervene, ITV News Correspondent Dan Rivers reports
A police presence has appeared on the coast near Calais after ITV News reported migrants had been able to freely attempt Channel crossings in the area on Tuesday.
France claims it deploys 950 officers in the region every day to prevent illegal crossings.
Frank Viandier, a local who regularly runs along the beach, sympathised with the French police.
He said: "Sometimes there is a lot of police, I can see the fights sometimes."
Mr Viandier added the police tell him it was not their job to fight the migrants if they want to attempt to get to England.
Mr Viandier also shared videos he'd recorded of French police standing by while the migrants set off on their rafts.
Dan O'Mahoney, the British commander responsible for patrolling the Channel, said an offer to do joint patrols with the French had been declined.
Senior government politicians have been promising to stop the crossings for years but the number of crossings continues to regularly set new records.
There have been more than 40,000 crossings this year, only around half were stopped.
In total than 23,000 people have arrived in the UK this year after crossing the Channel in small boats.
This is almost three times the total of around 8,500 in 2020.
More and more migrants have been gathering on the northern French coast and are now attempting crossings from over a 100-mile stretch.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has said she wants to prevent all crossings from happening.
She held talks with her French counterpart recently and said they had committed to stopping 100% of crossings.
The French Embassy in the UK disputed this saying the figure should not be presented as an agreed commitment.