Overview

• In the early hours of July 12, French police fired tear gas into sand dunes at Gravelines beach, forcing about 200 asylum seekers, including young children, to abandon a planned Channel crossing.
• Officers later slashed an abandoned inflatable dinghy with knives and were seen taking selfies beside the deflated vessel.
• The action came hours after President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer unveiled a ‘one in, one out’ returns deal backed by a £480 million UK–France patrol agreement.
• Smugglers nevertheless managed to deliver 973 migrants to Dover over two days, highlighting the resilience of organised trafficking networks.
• Gravelines has become a key departure hub with up to 300 daily launches, raising humanitarian concerns amid harsher maritime interception rules.