French policeare facing a human rights investigation after footage emerged apparently showing officers using a knife to slash a migrant dinghy to stop it from crossing the Channel to Britain.
Video circulating on social media appears to show officers slicing througha rubber dinghythat had become beached on sand nearCalais in northern Franceon Sunday. The vessel rapidly deflated, forcing more than 20 migrants back to shore.
Nobody was hurt during the incident, with water levels reported to be below knee height at the time.
Migrant charity Utopia 56 has condemned the act as unlawful, arguing that the boat was technically at sea and that lives were put at risk. Under French law, police are prohibited from intervening once a vessel is in the water, in order to safeguard those on board.
Utopia 56 has since lodged a report with France's Defender of Rights, the nation's leading human rights watchdog, and filed a formal complaint with the IGGN National Gendarmerie Inspectorate, the body responsible for investigating allegations against police officers.
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Utopia 56 wrote onInstagram: "This video was shot by one of our volunteers on Sunday at Oye-Plage.
"You can see policemen slashing a boat already in the water while people are on board.
"This is an extremely dangerous practice for passengers but has been used regularly for several years." A spokesman for the Pas-de-Calais gendarmerie stated that the intervention was "entirely within the law" as the vessel had essentially already come to rest on dry land.
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
