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Crossing the English Channel in small boats is dangerous.
In November, 27 people died in a shipwreck
Photo: Gareth Fuller / dpa
Surveillance cameras are to be installed in over 20 locations on the north coast of France in order to stop refugees from crossing the English Channel to Great Britain.
The cameras are financed with money that Great Britain provides to France for more effective border protection on the coast, as reported by broadcaster BFMTV.
The cameras installed on roads near the coast should enable the search for people smugglers and their vehicles as well as license plate recognition as part of the "Terminus" project.
The »armed arm of British migration policy«
The camera images are to be used by the police and the communities, for example in the fight against vandalism, but not made available to the British.
Around 50 cameras, each with four heads, are to go into operation between Montreuil and Calais by the middle of the year, as reported by the newspaper La Voix du Nord.
The total costs are not yet known.
The municipalities are also critical of the installation of the cameras, which they had to agree to.
The mayor of Merlimont, Mary Bonvoisin Alves Dos Santos, spoke of a hypocritical action in the BFMTV interview.
It would have been better if the money had gone to the helpers who rescue people from distress at sea during the crossing in small boats.
"I have the impression that we are the armed arm of British migration policy." At the same time, nothing is being done to provide children, women and men with decent housing.
For years, refugees have been attempting to reach Britain from makeshift camps in northern France.
Since the Channel Tunnel and the trucks passing through it have been better shielded, dangerous boat crossings have increased, with the number tripling in the past year.
In November, 27 people died when a boat sank.
The British government is a thorn in the side of the people arriving.
A central promise made by the Brexit supporters for the time after leaving the EU was to gain control over their own borders.
By November 2021, 23,000 refugees had crossed the English Channel – more than twice as many as in 2020 as a whole.
muk/dpa
