{"id":6770,"date":"2025-07-18T17:19:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/6770\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T17:19:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:19:14","slug":"migrant-clashes-erupt-in-northern-france-with-rocks-launched-at-riot-cops-and-fires-blazing-in-the-street-as-police-try-to-stop-launch-of-small-boat-bound-for-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/6770\/","title":{"rendered":"Migrant clashes erupt in northern France with rocks launched at riot cops and fires blazing in the street as police try to stop launch of small boat bound for Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clashes erupted between riot police and migrants early this morning in northern France<\/a>, with projectiles thrown and fires lit in the street.<\/p>\n

Dramatic pictures and video show a group throwing rocks in the direction of the officers early on Friday, while fires blazed in the road near a park in Gravelines.<\/p>\n

The confrontation is said to have been triggered when police arrived to stop the launch of a small boat, likely bound for Britain, from a canal in the town.<\/p>\n

A number of men who faced off with police were wearing life jackets, according to reporters at the scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The incident involving the group of migrants and Gendarmerie and Police Nationale officers, who were equipped with shields, helmets and tear gas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It lasted for about 20 minutes at around 5.30am and police reportedly used tear gas to disperse the group.<\/p>\n

Yesterday morning, migrants were filmed running into the water and boarding a dinghy at Gravelines beach.<\/p>\n

Pictures show people running out to meet the inflatable boat, which was dangerously overfull with dozens of young men clinging onto the sides in a desperate attempt to cross the channel.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A man is seen throwing projectiles towards police during clashes between migrants and police<\/p>\n

\"Riot <\/p>\n

Riot cops are seen near a fire amid clashes with migrants early this morning in France<\/p>\n

\"French <\/p>\n

French riot cops march along a round in Gravelines, northern France<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A group of men, some wearing masks, are seen at a distance from police with a fire blazing in the background<\/p>\n

\"French <\/p>\n

French riot police are seen running as they attempt to stop the unrest in Gravelines<\/p>\n

\"Riot <\/p>\n

Riot police with shields and tear gas are seen at the scene of the unrest<\/p>\n

\"Fires <\/p>\n

Fires blazed in the area as migrants faced off with cops and gathered in large groups<\/p>\n

\"Tear <\/p>\n

Tear gas was reportedly used to disperse the group of migrants<\/p>\n

French police have employed tougher tactics in tackling the small boats crisis in recent weeks, according to Downing Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Footage emerged earlier this month of officers slashing a dinghy packed with migrants and dragging the deflated vessel back to dry land, prompting anger from refugee charities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But footage which emerged yesterday showed the moment French coastguard members off the coast of Gravelines handed out lifejackets to migrants about to cross the Channel to Britain.<\/p>\n

Officials are seen passing life jackets to migrants in a dangerously full dinghy, rather than stopping it from heading out into the open sea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No police were seen on the beach as the group boarded the black inflatable boat.<\/p>\n

Witnesses saw one boat drop off several men at around 5am, who went into the sand dunes, before a second boat came close to shore, circling until the migrants appeared on the beach.<\/p>\n

The people, including a family with two children, put themselves into groups before trying to climb onto the boat.<\/p>\n

Around 40 people, believed to be about half of the full group, then left on the dinghy unhindered.<\/p>\n

\"People <\/p>\n

People scramble to board a small boat near Wimereux in France yesterday\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Migrants <\/p>\n

Migrants on board an inflatable boat are handed lifejackets by the French authorities as they leave from Gravelines, France, heading across the Channel to the UK today<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Dramatic scenes unfolded this morning on a French beach as cops deflated a boat carrying migrants<\/p>\n

More than 22,500 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel<\/a> so far in 2025, a record for this point in the year.<\/p>\n

The same milestone was not hit until mid-to-late August in previous years, including 2022 – the year which went on to see a record annual total of 45,700 arrivals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed a one in, one out migrant returns deal in a bid to crack down on the crossings and the people smuggling gangs who operate them.<\/p>\n

Leaks had suggested 50 migrants a week, around one in 17 arrivals, would be sent back to France initially. But that was seemingly not signed off by the leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sir <\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron shake hands on the steps of Number 10 after they agreed a deal to tackle migrants crossing to Britain<\/p>\n

Sir Keir met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday where he also praised Berlin’s plans to strengthen laws to disrupt small boat crossings by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

The PM said the countries were sending a ‘clear sign we mean business’ as he and the Chancellor signed the first bilateral treaty since the Second World War.<\/p>\n

It includes moves to close a loophole that has meant people-smuggling gangs could use Germany as a hub to store equipment without danger of prosecution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Clashes erupted between riot police and migrants early this morning in northern France, with projectiles thrown and fires…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[97,3907,819,49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-6770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-downing-street","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}