BBC on French beach as police slash migrant 'taxi-boat' heading to UK

Watch: BBC on French beach as police slash migrant 'taxi-boat' heading to UK

But well-placed sources in France have told us that the procedural changes now being considered will almost certainly focus on the use of patrol boats at sea to intercept the "taxi-boats" before they're fully loaded, rather than on approving more aggressive interventions from police on the beaches.

It is possible to see this rare incident as evidence that the French police - under growing pressure to stop a surge of small boat migrant crossings to the UK - are changing their tactics.

"Let's go in," said one of the gendarmes, pulling off his body armour, and taking out a small knife. His colleagues took their heavy armour off, too, placing equipment in the back of a nearby police car before rushing into the water.

French police usually follow strict rules that bar them from going into the sea in case they put lives at risk.

All those onboard clambered to safety as the boat collapsed.

Amid chaotic scenes, French police waded into shallow waters off a beach south of Boulogne early on Friday morning and used knives to slash an inflatable small boat - packed with men, women and children - that was wallowing, dangerously, in the waves.

A French police officer uses a knife to slash an inflatable boat with migrants in the English Channel

A few metres offshore, the boat itself was clearly in trouble. People were crowded around the outboard motor, which had briefly stalled but was being restarted.

Waves were breaking underneath the boat, causing it to lurch wildly, and there were loud screams from several children who were in danger of being crushed onboard.

Earlier, two large groups of people already wearing orange life jackets had emerged from the nearby dunes and rushed towards the sea.

In all there were probably 80 or 100 people. But when the first "taxi-boat" - used by the smuggling gangs to collect passengers from various points along the French coast - sped past perhaps 100m from the shore, it was clearly full already and did not stop to pick anyone else up.

A few minutes later, a second boat, with almost no passengers, came towards the shore, watched by a French coastguard boat further into the English Channel.

Initially, people were ushered forwards in organised groups, holding hands, and directed by one man who appeared to be leading events.

But as the inflatable boat turned and reversed towards the shore, there was a scrum as dozens of people scrambled to climb aboard in water that was at least waist deep.

At first the gendarmes declined to intervene and stood watching from the shore.

One officer repeated a now-familiar explanation to me - that they were barred from going into the water except to rescue people.

But as the situation became increasingly chaotic, the officers at the scene clearly felt that a line had been crossed, that those on board were now in danger, and that there was a brief opportunity to disable the boat in relative safety and while any smugglers - who might have fought back - were distracted by their attempts to restart the engine.

As a policeman slashed repeatedly at the rubber, there were cries and shouts of anger and frustration from some of those onboard.

A young girl, who had been in the middle of the scrum, squashed at the stern of the boat close to the engine, was plucked to safety as others scrambled on to the nearby sand.

Moments later the boat was dragged ashore by the police as the migrants began collecting items they had dropped on the beach and then headed inland, up the sandy paths through the dunes towards the nearest village and a bus-ride back to the migrant camps further north.

Akon's futuristic $6bn city project in Senegal abandoned, BBC told

53 minutes ago Share Save Nicolas Négoce, Natasha Booty & Jonathan Griffin BBC News Share Save

10 Design Architecture Some compared the designs to the awe-inspiring fictional city of Wakanda

Plans for a futuristic city in Senegal dreamt up by the singer Akon have been scrapped and instead he will work on something more realistic, officials say. "The Akon City project no longer exists," Serigne Mamadou Mboup, the head of Senegal's tourism development body, Sapco, told the BBC. "Fortunately, an agreement has been reached between Sapco and the entrepreneur Alioune Badara Thiam [aka Akon]. What he's preparing with us is a realistic project, which Sapco will fully support." Known for his string of noughties chart hits, Akon - who was born in the US but partly raised in Senegal - announced two ambitious projects in 2018 that were supposed to represent the future of African society.

The first was Akon City - reportedly costed at $6bn (£5bn). It was to run on the second initiative - a brand new cryptocurrency called Akoin. Initial designs for Akon City, with its boldly curvaceous skyscrapers, were compared by commentators to the awe-inspiring fictional city of Wakanda in Marvel's Black Panther films and comic books. But after five years of setbacks, the 800-hectare site in Mbodiène - about 100km (60 miles) south of the capital, Dakar - remains mostly empty. The only structure is an incomplete reception building. There are no roads, no housing, no power grid. "We were promised jobs and development," one local resident told the BBC. "Instead, nothing has changed." Meanwhile the star's Akoin cryptocurrency has struggled to repay its investors over the years, with Akon himself conceding: "It wasn't being managed properly - I take full responsibility for that." There had also been questions over whether it would even be legal for Akoin to operate as the primary payment method for would-be residents of Akon City. Senegal uses the CFA franc, which is regulated and issued by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), and like many central banks has expressed opposition to cryptocurrency. The plans for Akon City had been sweeping.

10 Design Architecture These plans have been shelved and work will begin on a more realistic development at the same site in Mbodiène

Phase one alone was to include a hospital, a shopping mall, a school, a police station, a waste centre, and a solar plant - all by the end of 2023. Sitting on Senegal's Atlantic Coast, Akon's high-tech, eco-friendly city was supposed to run entirely on renewable energy. But despite Akon's insistence in a 2022 BBC interview that the project was "100,000% moving", no significant construction followed the initial launch ceremony. Now the Senegalese government has confirmed what many suspected - the project had stalled beyond recovery. Officials cited a lack of funding and halted construction efforts as key reasons for the decision. Although Akon City as it was originally imagined has been shelved, the government says it is now working with Akon on a more "realistic" development project for the same site. The land near Mbodiène remains of high strategic value, especially with the 2026 Youth Olympic Games approaching and increased tourism activity expected.

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Grieving football fans have spoken to the BBC to share what Liverpool and Portugal player Diogo Jota meant to them.

Jota, 28, was killed alongside his brother André Silva in a car crash in Spain.

"I felt it was important to pay respects," said a supporter standing in front of rows of tributes left by well-wishers.

For more on this story follow live coverage.

Airport brawl followed Starbucks assault, jury hears

31 minutes ago Share Save Share Save

PA Media Human Rights lawyer Aamer Anwar (centre) is representing Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (left) and Muhammed Amaad (right)

A brawl filmed at Manchester airport last summer followed an attack on a member of the public at Starbucks, a jury has heard. Brothers Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and Muhammad Amaad, 26, are said to have used a "high level of violence" in assaulting three police officers in Terminal 2 on July 23. Police were at the airport responding to an earlier incident at the Starbucks cafe where Amaaz headbutted a man and punched him, Liverpool Crown Court heard. Both brothers, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations. Opening the prosecution case on Friday, Paul Greaney KC said police later traced the brothers at the terminal's car park payment area.

PA Media Mohammed Fahir Amaaz stands charged over an altercation at Manchester Airport

Three officers, PC Zachary Marsden and PC Ellie Cook - both armed - and PC Lydia Ward, unarmed, approached the defendants, he said. Mr Greaney went on: "The officers attempted to move Mohammed Fahir Amaaz away from a payment machine in order to arrest him, but he resisted, and his brother Muhammad Amaad intervened." He said they both assaulted PC Marsden. "In the moments that followed, the first defendant also assaulted PC Cook and then PC Ward too, breaking her nose," Mr Greaney said. "The defendants used a high level of violence." Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted PC Marsden and PC Ward, causing them actual bodily harm. He is also accused of the assault of PC Cook and the earlier assault of Abdulkareem Ismaeil at Starbucks. Amaad, 26, is alleged to have assaulted PC Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.

PA Media Muhammed Amaad arrives at Liverpool Crown Court

Mr Greaney said the defendants had travelled to the airport with their young nephew to collect their mother who was due to arrive back on a flight from Qatar. He said it was clear that "something happened" involving Abdulkareem Ismaeil, who was on the same flight as the pair's mother, that "made [her] unhappy". She pointed out Mr Ismaeil, who was in Starbucks with his family, to her sons as they were walking through the terminal. "At just after 8.20pm, the defendants entered Starbucks and confronted Abdulkareem Ismaei," Mr Greaney said. "During that confrontation, Mohammed Fahir Amaaz delivered a headbutt to the face of Abdulkareem Ismaeil and punched him, then attempted to deliver other blows, all in front of a number of children. "The prosecution case is that this was obviously unlawful conduct." Mr Greaney told jurors the prosecution's position was this was "not a complicated case" as the events were captured on CCTV. "So you will not have to depend only on the recollections of witnesses. You will also be able to see with your own eyes what happened," he said. Mr Greaney said the defendants would say "that at all stages they were acting in lawful self-defence or in defence of the other". "Our prediction is that you will readily conclude that the defendants were not acting in lawful self-defence and that their conduct was unlawful," he added.

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has said it is "going to be extremely difficult to accept" the death of fellow Reds player Diogo Jota.

Jota, aged 28, died in a car crash along with his brother Andre Silva, who was 25.

"I am truly lost for words," said Salah, who joined Liverpool in the summer of 2017.

"Until yesterday, I never thought there would be something that would frighten me of going back to Liverpool after the break. Team-mates come and go but not like this.

"It's going to be extremely difficult to accept that Diogo won't be there when we go back.

"My thoughts are with his wife, his children, and of course his parents who suddenly lost their children. Those close to Diogo and his brother Andre need all the support they can get. They will never be forgotten."

The Guardia Civil told BBC Sport both men died at about 00:30 local time on Thursday.

Jota was on his way back to Liverpool for pre-season and, as doctors had advised him against flying because he had undergone minor surgery, he was making the trip by car and ferry.

He married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso, with who he had three children, just 11 days before the fatal crash.

Jamie Smith hits five boundaries as England score 23 runs off one over against India on the day three of the second Test as the home side rallied in their first innings at Edgbaston.

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