
Dinghies at dawn and a determination to arrive: on the French coast waiting to cross to UK
For a few minutes the boat halts several metres from shore, probably waiting for others to run from the scrubland behind the beach where some have been hiding all night to try to get on. But the only people waiting are a small group of journalists. Once it becomes clear there is nobody else to pick up, the boat's engine fires up, heading north-west to England, while one person onboard waves back with the sign of peace.
In London, where France's president, Emmanuel Macron, is visiting, further proposals are being discussed to stem the numbers of people coming to the UK in small boats. But on Thursday morning in northern France, the more significant variables are the strength of the wind and the height of the waves. It is calm, ideal for crossing after days of higher winds.
As the dinghy sets off, it becomes clear that a small number of French police officers have been watching from the dunes, about a kilometre or so away. It is estimated that 1,800 officers patrol the coast, a security effort partly funded by Britain, which is paying France about £480m under a three-year deal ending in 2026. But the size of the beaches and the length of the coastline used by migrants and refugees – roughly 70 miles – makes stopping all the boats impossible.
Even so, leaving is not simple. Another dinghy had got stuck in the mud as a group tried to embark from the canal that runs through the centre of Gravelines at about 5am. Though the people onboard were rescued by the fire brigade, according to aid workers at Utopia 56 the police then used teargas to break up a group that had collected. Others then tried to restart the boat's engine but, with the tide going out, the effort failed and for a time they were stuck in the thick canal mud before being rescued.
The most significant factor, though, is the determination of those to arrive, the human spirit, so often driven by necessity, which overpowers the relentless political and security initiatives during 20 years of efforts to half irregular flows of people to the UK. It is an obvious point but, in debates about migrant numbers, essential to repeat.
Two days earlier, in the makeshift camp near Grande-Synthe west of Dunkirk, where people typically have originally come from troublespots and war zones in Asia and Africa, Khaled, an Afghan, suggests that the Guardian search on ChatGPT on a mobile phone. This is unexpected, but he wants to show that his wife is a noted human rights activist – a picture produced in a search looks exactly like her.
'Please don't identify us,' adds Khaled (not his real name), because 'it is dangerous for my parents back home. We don't want the Taliban to know we have left the country.' The couple and their boy, now five, have been travelling overland for a year after initially fleeing to Iran, but such is his nervousness that he does not want their faces to be photographed as he talks, his son playing around him.
People have made lengthy, dangerous journeys to get this far. One, Bashir, says he has already travelled 'nine days in a boat from Senegal from Spain' – and so the prospect of crossing the Channel does not appear to unduly worry a person like him, though 19 people have been reported to have died or disappeared trying to make the crossing so far this year. Like several others, he says French police slashed a dinghy he had got into with a knife, making it sink before it had left shallow water, a tactic exposing refugees and migrants to more danger and trauma. 'I will try again,' he says simply.
The squalor in the camp remains profound and in many respects little has changed in the two-and-a-half years since this reporter previously visited. There is no sanitation, though one charity, Roots, provides basic showers. Charities distribute food and provide electricity for phone charging. People cook on open fires – and offer visiting reporters tea.
Though it feels safe to walk around with a photographer and talk to the those at the camp, there are dangers. There were two non-fatal shootings on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, the police presence was nervy as the Guardian arrived just as the victim, who had been shot in the leg three times, was evacuated by ambulance. Two migrants were killed in separate incidents last month. Aid groups such as Utopia 56 argue that if the camps were 'more dignified' there would be less violence.
This time, however, there is a growing minority of women and children. Next to the Afghans are camped a group of Somalis. Five women fleeing the violent, unstable country gather around to talk. Yasmiin acknowledges she tried and failed to obtain asylum in the Netherlands, and says because the UK is outside the EU's system she has a second chance in the UK, before she playfully suggests marriage. 'No, not you. Do you have a brother?' she says.
Katie Sweetingham, a coordinator with Care4Calais, a charity that works with refugees and migrants, providing clothes, tents and other non-food items, says there has been a huge increase in families and that at a recent clothes distribution in Dunkirk 'we had about 100 women and about 30 children' turn up. For comparison, the charity budgets for handing out clothes or other items for up to 700 men, though it also admits that stockpiles of clothes and tents are not as high as it would like.
Aid workers are not sure why the numbers of women and children have gone up but there is tentative evidence that the cause may be the people smugglers' new taxi boat model, where a large dinghy waits near the edge of a beach, allowing as many people as possible to pile on, creating a dangerous shallow-water scramble that is particularly difficult for children and family groups to navigate.
Asmaan, 13, who is nominated by her mother as the family spokesperson because she speaks some English, says she and her family, from Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan, were unable to get on a small boat five days earlier. 'We could not get on together, it was too difficult,' though the effort was moot because, she says, the boat was slashed by the French police.
Yet, even allowing for the new emphasis on disabling the taxi boats, so far this year as of 6 July at least 21,117 people have made the crossing by a small boat, up 56% compared to the same period in 2024. The asylum claims made by those coming to the UK via small boats are successful 53% of the time. But people coming from certain countries have a very high rate of asylum claims accepted, such as 97% for Afghanistan.
Organisations working with refugees and migrants estimate there are perhaps 2,500 in and around Calais and Dunkirk at the moment. Every two days, French police, partly funded by British taxpayers, clear out informal camps in Calais, taking or slashing tents and removing any possessions if their owners are not present. Afterwards, Care4Calais distributes replacements and the cycle repeats.
In the rough, wooded open ground near Dunkirk, the clearouts typically take place on Wednesday mornings. However, this week the effort did not take place, prompting some charities to assume it was to avoid negative publicity while Macron was in London and while journalists were likely to be about.
Instead, according to Thomas Gilbert, the founder of the refugee support charity Roots, French refuse workers quickly cleared away 'three or four skiploads of rubbish' on Wednesday morning that had been collected by volunteers.
'It's just really frustrating, especially today, it took us probably five or six days for three different groups to collect the rubbish, and they can just show up because of what is happening in the UK,' he says. A more humane approach to the migration crisis is possible, he argues, but it is not the path politicians choose.
Names of refugees and migrants have been changed

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Rhyl Journal
a few seconds ago
- Rhyl Journal
It's great to be here, I love standing on the soil of Scotland, Trump says
Ian Murray told the PA news agency what the US President's first words were after disembarking from Air Force One in Prestwick. The UK Government minister was the first person to greet the president in Scotland as he begins his visit to the country. Speaking after meeting the American leader, Mr Murray told PA: 'The president came off the flight, and I said, 'Mr president, welcome to Scotland – the home country of your dear mother', and he said, 'It's great to be here, I always love standing on the soil of Scotland'. 'I said, 'I hope you're looking forward to a bit of downtime with some golf this weekend', and he said, 'Yes'. And I said, 'Well, we've whipped up a bit of a wind for you to make it a bit more competitive', and he went, 'I'm looking forward to it'.' Mr Murray said Mr Trump was given a warm reception as he got off his presidential plane. Hundreds gathered on the Mound overlooking Prestwick Airport for the president's arrival. A Trump flag was flown while a few spectators wore 'Make America Great Again' hats, although many of those attending were locals and aviation enthusiasts, including some who had travelled from England. Mr Murray said: 'Spotters hills, as it's called, where all the plane spotters come to Prestwick, was absolutely full. 'You could see that from the tarmac and as Air Force One came in, people were snapping away on their photographs. 'To see all that happening is quite a spectacle in itself. 'It's really good to have that kind of focus on Scotland.' Mr Trump will meet Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during his trip to discuss the UK-US trade deal as Britain hopes to be spared from the president's tariff regime. The Scottish Secretary said: 'Really, the purpose of this weekend, the purpose of greeting the president off the plane, the purpose of the Prime Minister's relationship with the president is to build that close relationship, to make sure that that old alliance is nurtured, and to do that for the benefit of the national interest, which is about jobs and growth here in the UK, and particularly Scotland.' Mr Trump will meet Scottish First Minister John Swinney during his trip as he opens a new golf course in Aberdeenshire. Before flying to Prestwick, Mr Trump said in Washington that he was 'looking forward' to meeting Mr Swinney, describing him as a 'good man' – the same phrase he used for the Prime Minister after landing in Scotland. Asked about the president's relationship with the UK, Mr Murray said: 'The Prime Minister has taken a very pragmatic approach to the relationship with the president of the United States, because it's in our national interest to do so, whether it be on defence, security, trade, cultural, historic ties. 'It's a historic alliance, and that alliance has to be nurtured and continue through to the future, because it's quite clear that our relationship with United States is good for jobs and growth here in Scotland and across the UK. 'The Prime Minister knows that, and knows that working very closely with the US is in our national interest.' Asked about protests, which are expected across the country, Mr Murray said people had a right to demonstrate, adding: 'Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom to protest is a key cornerstone of both countries, America and the UK, and the right to be able to protest if they so wish to so.'


South Wales Guardian
a few seconds ago
- South Wales Guardian
It's great to be here, I love standing on the soil of Scotland, Trump says
Ian Murray told the PA news agency what the US President's first words were after disembarking from Air Force One in Prestwick. The UK Government minister was the first person to greet the president in Scotland as he begins his visit to the country. Speaking after meeting the American leader, Mr Murray told PA: 'The president came off the flight, and I said, 'Mr president, welcome to Scotland – the home country of your dear mother', and he said, 'It's great to be here, I always love standing on the soil of Scotland'. 'I said, 'I hope you're looking forward to a bit of downtime with some golf this weekend', and he said, 'Yes'. And I said, 'Well, we've whipped up a bit of a wind for you to make it a bit more competitive', and he went, 'I'm looking forward to it'.' Mr Murray said Mr Trump was given a warm reception as he got off his presidential plane. Hundreds gathered on the Mound overlooking Prestwick Airport for the president's arrival. A Trump flag was flown while a few spectators wore 'Make America Great Again' hats, although many of those attending were locals and aviation enthusiasts, including some who had travelled from England. Mr Murray said: 'Spotters hills, as it's called, where all the plane spotters come to Prestwick, was absolutely full. 'You could see that from the tarmac and as Air Force One came in, people were snapping away on their photographs. 'To see all that happening is quite a spectacle in itself. 'It's really good to have that kind of focus on Scotland.' Mr Trump will meet Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during his trip to discuss the UK-US trade deal as Britain hopes to be spared from the president's tariff regime. The Scottish Secretary said: 'Really, the purpose of this weekend, the purpose of greeting the president off the plane, the purpose of the Prime Minister's relationship with the president is to build that close relationship, to make sure that that old alliance is nurtured, and to do that for the benefit of the national interest, which is about jobs and growth here in the UK, and particularly Scotland.' Mr Trump will meet Scottish First Minister John Swinney during his trip as he opens a new golf course in Aberdeenshire. Before flying to Prestwick, Mr Trump said in Washington that he was 'looking forward' to meeting Mr Swinney, describing him as a 'good man' – the same phrase he used for the Prime Minister after landing in Scotland. Asked about the president's relationship with the UK, Mr Murray said: 'The Prime Minister has taken a very pragmatic approach to the relationship with the president of the United States, because it's in our national interest to do so, whether it be on defence, security, trade, cultural, historic ties. 'It's a historic alliance, and that alliance has to be nurtured and continue through to the future, because it's quite clear that our relationship with United States is good for jobs and growth here in Scotland and across the UK. 'The Prime Minister knows that, and knows that working very closely with the US is in our national interest.' Asked about protests, which are expected across the country, Mr Murray said people had a right to demonstrate, adding: 'Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom to protest is a key cornerstone of both countries, America and the UK, and the right to be able to protest if they so wish to so.'


Scotsman
a few seconds ago
- Scotsman
Ian Murray reveals what Donald Trump said to him on the Prestwick tarmac
Donald Trump has arrived in Scotland, and Scottish Secretary Ian Murray was there to meet him off Air Force One at Prestwick Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Donald Trump has said he 'loves standing on the soil of Scotland' after landing in the country on Friday evening, according to the Scottish Secretary. Ian Murray revealed what the US President's first words were after disembarking from Air Force One in Prestwick. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The UK Government minister was the first person to greet the president in Scotland as he begins his visit to the country. Speaking after meeting the American leader, Mr Murray said: 'The president came off the flight, and I said, 'Mr president, welcome to Scotland – the home country of your dear mother', and he said, 'It's great to be here, I always love standing on the soil of Scotland'. 'I said, 'I hope you're looking forward to a bit of downtime with some golf this weekend', and he said, 'Yes'. And I said, 'Well, we've whipped up a bit of a wind for you to make it a bit more competitive', and he went, 'I'm looking forward to it'.' Mr Murray said Mr Trump was given a warm reception as he got off his presidential plane. Hundreds gathered on the Mound overlooking Prestwick Airport for the president's arrival. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A Trump flag was flown while a few spectators wore 'Make America Great Again' hats, although many of those attending were locals and aviation enthusiasts, including some who had travelled from England. Mr Murray said: 'Spotters hills, as it's called, where all the plane spotters come to Prestwick, was absolutely full. 'You could see that from the tarmac and as Air Force One came in, people were snapping away on their photographs. 'To see all that happening is quite a spectacle in itself. 'It's really good to have that kind of focus on Scotland.' Mr Trump will meet Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during his trip to discuss the UK-US trade deal as Britain hopes to be spared from the president's tariff regime. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Scottish Secretary said: 'Really, the purpose of this weekend, the purpose of greeting the president off the plane, the purpose of the Prime Minister's relationship with the president is to build that close relationship, to make sure that that old alliance is nurtured, and to do that for the benefit of the national interest, which is about jobs and growth here in the UK, and particularly Scotland.' Mr Trump will meet First Minister John Swinney during his trip as he opens a new golf course in Aberdeenshire. Before flying to Prestwick, Mr Trump said in Washington that he was 'looking forward' to meeting Mr Swinney, describing him as a 'good man' – the same phrase he used for the Prime Minister after landing in Scotland. Asked about the president's relationship with the UK, Mr Murray said: 'The Prime Minister has taken a very pragmatic approach to the relationship with the president of the United States, because it's in our national interest to do so, whether it be on defence, security, trade, cultural, historic ties. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's a historic alliance, and that alliance has to be nurtured and continue through to the future, because it's quite clear that our relationship with United States is good for jobs and growth here in Scotland and across the UK. 'The Prime Minister knows that, and knows that working very closely with the US is in our national interest.'