The UK is paying France £660m to stop Channel crossings — and authorising water cannons on asylum seekers. Tough policy or state violence?
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced at the G7 summit that specialist French riot police — including a 50-officer CRS squad — have been deployed on northern French beaches under a new £660 million deal to stop small boat crossings. French riot officers are authorised to use water cannon, CS gas and batons against asylum seekers — weapons that are banned in Great Britain on 'policing by consent' grounds. Refugee charity Care4Calais called it a 'sickening escalation in state violence against refugees.' The UK government says the deal is a necessary and landmark collaboration to protect lives in the Channel.
The summary above is a neutral framing. Below, each side reports the same story in its own words — judge for yourself.
Keir Starmer announced the deployment of French specialist policing units — including a CRS riot squad and 75 officers from the Compagnie de Marche — on French beaches at the G7 summit in Évian, calling it 'just one element of the landmark deal between our countries that is taking our collaboration to the next level.' The deal, worth £660m, is aimed at preventing asylum seekers and people smugglers from launching small boats in time for the summer, when Channel crossings historically peak. Governments on both sides frame the deployment as a proportionate response to a dangerous migration route — prioritising deterrence to save lives at sea.
Care4Calais chief executive Steve Smith called the water cannon authorisation 'a sickening escalation in the state violence being waged against refugees.' Water cannon — which fire a high-velocity stream powerful enough to knock people off their feet — are prohibited in Great Britain owing to concerns about 'policing by consent,' and were only used last week to quell anti-immigration protests in Northern Ireland. Smith said: 'If the use of water cannon is prohibited in Great Britain, then we shouldn't have a government backing its use against communities in another country. It's inhumane and the UK government should be ashamed.' Critics argue the deal criminalises desperation and funds violence against people who have already fled persecution.
