Sacré blown: French police use knives to sink asylum seekers' boat before it ... trends now
A French policeman slashes an inflatable dinghy filled with migrants in images showing a dramatic escalation of force against people smugglers.
French authorities have been increasingly accused of a soft-touch approach, fuelled by photographs showing officers standing by as heavily-laden boats enter the Channel.
But they have been told to significantly ramp up their efforts after five migrants - including a seven-year-old girl - were killed after a rival group armed with sticks and knives stormed their dinghy on Tuesday.
An Interior Ministry source based in northern France told the Mail: 'There have been accusations that the police have been holding back when dealing with the smuggling gangs.
A French policeman slashes an inflatable dinghy filled with migrants in images showing a dramatic escalation of force against people smugglers
French police launch tear gas to disperse migrants to prevent them from boarding a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel, on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk
French authorities have been increasingly accused of a soft-touch approach, fuelled by photographs showing officers standing by as heavily-laden boats enter the Channel
'This is mainly because they don't want to get involved in violence with the migrants, but they must realise that this has to change.
'There was certainly widespread disgust across the various police forces about what happened last Tuesday – the thought that a gang could have used lethal violence to get a place on a boat is incredibly worrying.
'Something needs to change, and to change quickly, and the police believe they can do this.'
Photographs of an operation on Dunkirk beach show officers dressed in body-armour wading into the surf to foil an attempted crossing.
One officer is seen wielding a knife as he prepares to deflate a dinghy overloaded with dozens of migrant. Other policemen are seen dragging away the boat's motor.
Distraught migrants are seen collapsing onto the beach as they are prevented from making the dangerous journey, which some had paid up to £1000 each to attempt.
The dramatic change in tactics is understood to be a direct response to the tragedy that unfolded on Tuesday near the town of Wimereux in the early hours of Tuesday.
An Interior Ministry source based in northern France told the Mail: 'There have been accusations that the police have been holiding back when dealing with the smuggling gangs'
Distraught migrants are seen collapsing onto the beach as they are prevented from making the dangerous journey, which some had paid up to £1000 each to attempt
The dramatic change in tactics is understood to be a direct response to the tragedy that unfolded on Tuesday near the town of Wimereux in the early hours of Tuesday
Three men, a woman and a seven-year-old girl died during the chaos after their dinghy, laden with 112 people, was stormed by a rival group of migrants as it prepared to set off.
An 18-year-old survivor, named only as Heivin, yesterday told how dozens of people were trampled as migrants armed with sticks and knives piled into the vessel.
The Iraqi teenager told Sky News: 'It was because of them that people died.
'If they hadn't come and started fighting, none of this would have happened.. People were fighting, people were getting stepped on, they were dying and being thrown off.'
Heivin said she fell into the water herself but was yanked back into the vessel by another passenger.
Two others who fell into the water, including the young girl, were less fortunate and drowned while the other three casualties were crushed on overcrowded boat under the grappling bodies.
She added: 'I had tried to be at the front, but after I fell in the water I sat on the edge of the boat and didn't go towards the other end - that's where people were fighting.
'I thank God that I didn't get into the top part of the dinghy. I would have suffocated. I thank God for that every day.'
The tragedy sparked a furious response from Jean-Luc Dubaele, Wimereux's mayor, who accused police of allowing the coast to be turned into a 'slaughterhouse'.
French police launch tear gas to disperse migrants to prevent them from boarding a smuggler's boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel, on the beach of Gravelines, near Dunkirk
This comes as dozens of migrants were intercepted crossing the Channel today - the first day of arrivals since five people died attempting the journey on Tuesday
On the same day as the tragedy an estimated 300 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats, following a week with no crossings, bringing the total for 2024 so far to roughly 6,500
The Interior Ministry source added: 'Mr Dubaele called for the army to be brought in, because the police have clearly been failing.
'He's
