FRENCH police fired tear gas at a group of people as they waited on sand dunes in France for a small boat which might ferry them to the UK.
Hundreds gathered on the dunes before making dashes towards the Channel at Gravelines beach, north east Calais, all intent on boarding a single dinghy on Tuesday morning.
People of all ages who made it to the sea had to wait in waist-deep water for almost an hour before any of them were able to board the small boat.
An older man on crutches had to be carried out of the water by two others, who then ran off to re-join the crowd.
Many others did not make it to the water, raising their arms in surrender under a thick blanket of tear gas fired by the French Police Nationale.
Police Nationale officers were trudging the sands at Gravelines beach before sunrise on Tuesday morning, armed with riot shields, tear gas and batons.
Pictures taken by the PA news agency show a cloud of smoke as people ran from the dunes.
Those who made it to the water bunched into three groups and waited for the dinghy to collect them, watched by the French police from the shoreline.
While they waited, an Afghani man who wished to remain anonymous told PA that he was seeking a better life in the UK.
“Just I want to go for a good life, I have a situation bad in my country,” he said.
Well over 50 people made it aboard the small black dinghy before it finally took off into the channel.
Others were left to watch as it floated out to sea.
Pictures from the morning show a woman sitting dejected on the sand after chasing the dinghy as it left the beach.
She and her friends, thought to be Ethiopian, complained that it was mostly men who had managed to get on the boat that morning.
They had been hit by tear gas when people were making their initial sprint to the water.
The police present on Gravelines beach would not confirm whether the use of tear gas had now become common practice during these clashes.
The 28-year-old said of French police: “I think they show them that they tried to stop them but they’re happy if a few hundred or thousand are away because the camps are more empty.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron have agreed to focus on migration at a July summit given the “deteriorating situation in the Channel”, No 10 has said.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “They looked ahead to the upcoming UK-France summit in July and agreed that their teams should pursue high-ambition outcomes that deliver for the British and French people.
“Migration should be a key focus given the deteriorating situation in the Channel, they confirmed – adding that they should continue to work closely with other partners to find innovative ways to drive forward progress.”
The dinghy which had originally come to shore around 7am local time (6am BST) headed out to sea at 9.30am.
The boat was thought to be overloaded and witnesses saw it was eventually brought back to shore at around 11am local time (10am BST).
