France arrests 10 over November migrant deaths

The French police are holding 10 people suspected of being involved in the November 2021 drowning of migrants in the Channel, in which 27 people were killed, a judicial source said Thursday.

One man was charged with manslaughter and people-trafficking, and the nine others were to be taken before a judge who will decide whether to charge them or not, the source said, asking not to be named.

The police released five of the arrested in an overnight operation Sunday to Monday, a part of their months-long investigation into the disaster.

The death of 27 in late November was the worst accident in the Channel since 2018, when the narrow strait became a key route for migrants from Africa, the Middle East and Asia who have been increasingly using small boats to reach England from France.

Among the 27-aged seven to 47-year-olds were 16 Iraqi Kurds, four Afghans, three Ethiopians, one Somali, one Egyptian and one Vietnamese migrant.

Two people survived the disaster, which sparked tension between the British and French governments.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said: "We need intelligence, and that's why President Emmanuel Macron said France would not allow the Channel to become a cemetery. Responses from the French police are not always given. The rebuke followed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's proposal to send all migrants and asylum seekers who land in England to France, a move rejected by Paris.

Following Britain's departure from the EU, it does not have a returns treaty with France or the EU.

The spat added to a litany of post-Brexit rows between the two sides, which include a dispute on fishing rights in the Channel, which at times threatened to spill over into a full-blown trade war.

The French interior ministry said that the number of migrants crossing the Channel from France to England surged in the first half of this year despite a more conciliatory tone and promises of more cooperation.

It said there were 777 attempted crossings involving 20,132 people, up 68 percent from January 1 to June 13, up 68 percent on the same period last year.

The ministry said that French security forces had prevented most of the crossings, with 61.39 percent of the attempts thwarted in the first half, up 4.2 percent on last year.

The figures for all of 2021 had already been a record but the latest statistics show that this could be beaten if current trends continue as summer weather settles in that encourages more crossings.

Some 52,000 people tried to cross in 2021, with 28,000 of them succeeding, according to the French authorities.

The UK is trying to toughen its policy against arrivals as a result of the numbers.

Britain has accused the French authorities of not doing enough to stop the crossings.

Under an agreement with the African nation, the UK is planning to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda, including those who arrive across the Channel.

The first flight was cancelled earlier this month after a last-minute intervention by the European Court of Human Rights ECHR in Strasbourg.