French Police Puncture Migrant Dinghy at Oye-Plage Near Calais

French police punctured an inflatable dinghy carrying migrants on a beach at Oye-Plage near Calais. Video footage shared on social media last month showed an officer cutting into the rubber boat, which deflated and forced the passengers back onto the shore.

Utopia 56, a migrant support organisation, lodged a formal complaint with France's Defender of Rights and a separate complaint with the National Gendarmerie Inspectorate.

The group stated that one of its activists recorded the footage and wrote that the action was an extremely dangerous practice for passengers that has been used regularly for several years. The Pas-de-Calais Gendarmerie rejected the allegations. It stated that the vessel had not been at sea but had become grounded after a flotation malfunction, and that officers disabled the craft to stop it from returning to the water.

Jane Moore addressed the incident in her column. She wrote that the boat was deflated in shin-deep water to stop it from entering the Channel, which averages a depth of 207ft, and added that puncturing it may have saved lives. The incident occurred as Britain and France pursue a three-year agreement worth £662 million announced in April to tackle Channel crossings.

The deal commits £500 million to enforcement operations along northern French coastlines and includes deployment of drones, two helicopters and an advanced camera network. Home Office data recorded 710 arrivals on Monday across 11 vessels. The 9,852 crossings recorded by June 21 represent a 40 per cent reduction compared with the equivalent period last year.