LONDON – Riot police will be sent on to French beaches to stop migrants crossing the Channel under a fresh multimillion-pound deal with the United Kingdom.
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to sign a three-year 662 million euros (893 million U.S. dollars) agreement with France on Thursday.
The agreement which could see a 50-strong squad of police officers, trained in “riot and crowd control tactics.”
The deal is drafted in to tackle violence and “hostile crowds” at the water’s edge among a series of measures to stop migrants boarding boats.
The Home Office said the number of officers sent to curb attempted journeys from northern France to Britain would also rise by about 42 per cent when the agreement comes into force in the summer.
Part of the funding would be conditional on cutting the numbers of arrivals for the first time since the start of the migrant crisis, the UK Government said.
The news comes after London and Paris previously failed to agree a new beach patrol deal in a bid to cut crossings.
Instead Mahmood signed a two million euros a-week extension to the existing arrangement while a longer-term was thrashed out.
Under the deal, which would be in place until March 2029, the UK would hand over 501 million euros to cover five police units and enforcement activity on French beaches with an extra 160 million euros.
The extra euros would only pay if new tactics to curb Channel crossings succeed.
If efforts fail, the additional funding will stop after a year, the Home Office said.
Drone and camera surveillance, as well as helicopter patrols, the number of police would be stepped up, intelligence and military officers deployed rising from 750 to 1,100 as part of the deal due to come into force in the summer. (Xinhua/NAN)
