"The Ministry of the Interior has full confidence in the prefect and in the internal security forces. (...) The gendarmes, knee-deep in water, intervened to save people in danger." On Saturday, July 5, French Interior Ministry officials tried to contain the controversy. Footage broadcast the previous day by the British network BBC showed gendarmes in Pas-de-Calais, northern France, wading into the sea toward a rubber dinghy packed with several dozen migrants and stabbing the vessel with knives.

The British government immediately welcomed what it called a "toughening of their approach" by the French to prevent Channel crossings – an effort to which London has contributed at least €760 million to Paris since 2018. "We are seeing new tactics being used to disrupt these boats before they begin their journey," said a spokesperson for Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Puncturing boats at sea is not new. An investigation published in March 2024 in Le Monde (in partnership with the non-profit media outlet Lighthouse Reports) had already documented the practice. At the time, authorities denied using such methods. Under pressure from the British and facing a record number of Channel crossings (more than 20,000 arrivals in the United Kingdom since the beginning of the year), Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau decided to push further.

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