LONDON: A British boat rescued 34 migrants crossing the Channel aboard a small motorised boat on Monday, Britain's interior ministry said.
"Today Border Force responded to an incident in the Channel involving a small boat containing 34 people," the ministry said in a statement.
"The group were brought to Dover and have been transferred to immigration officials for interview," it added, saying that men, women and children were on board and that three men were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences.
French authorities earlier said that "a fishing boat gave the alarm shortly after 8:00 am (0700 GMT)" after spotting the boat off the tip of northern France.
French navy, police and customs launched a helicopter, a tug boat and three fast vessels, while sea rescue services also tried to rescue the migrants.
By the time they reached the migrants' location, however, "they had crossed over to the English side" of the Channel where they were picked up by a British vessel, said the regional authority in northern France.
Two British Border Force cutters and a coastal patrol vessel were involved in the rescue, according to UK authorities.
Some 500 people -- most of them over the last two months of 2018 -- attempted to cross the Channel to Britain last year, compared with just 13 known attempts in 2017.
French interior ministry figures show 276 people successfully reached British waters last year.
London in December dispatched a navy ship to help coastguard boats watch over the 21 miles (33 kilometres) of sea that separate France and Britain at its narrowest point.
France also responded by announcing broader surveillance measures in early January.
The number of Channel crossings was just a tiny fraction of the 55,756 successful attempts made across the Mediterranean to Spain that were recorded by the UN's refugee agency in 2018.
British boat rescues migrants trying to cross Channel
British boat rescues migrants trying to cross Channel
- British border officials have picked up 34 people who were trying to cross the English Channel in a small boat
- The Home Office said the passengers are thought to be migrants and their nationalities were not known yet
Farmers block Paris streets to protest planned free trade agreement with South American nations
- The protest piles yet more pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and his government, a day before EU member states are expected to vote on the trade accord
PARIS: French farmers blocked roads into Paris and landmarks such as the Arc de Triomphe on Thursday, in protest against a sweeping trade deal the EU is due to sign with South American nations.
Farmers from the right-wing Coordination Rurale union called for the protests in Paris amid fears the planned free trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc will flood the EU with cheap food imports.
They also protested high costs and excessive local regulations and demanded an end to a government policy of culling herds of cows in response to a highly contagious cattle disease, which they consider unwarranted.
“We are between resentment and despair. We have a feeling of abandonment, with Mercosur being an example,” Stephane Pelletier, a senior member of the Coordination Rurale union, told Reuters beneath the Eiffel Tower.
The farmers overran police checkpoints to enter the city, driving along the Champs Elysees avenue and blocking the road around the Arc de Triomphe before dawn, before gathering in front of the National Assembly.
National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet was booed and jostled when she stepped outside of the assembly’s gates to talk with the Coordination Rurale protesters.
Dozens of tractors obstructed highways leading into the capital ahead of the morning rush hour, including the A13 leading into Paris from the western suburbs and Normandy, causing 150 km of traffic jams, the transport minister said.
Farmers from the FNSEA and young farmers’ unions joined them later at the Eiffel Tower in a calm demonstration.
“We’re going to import products from the rest of the world that don’t meet our standards — that’s not possible, that’s unacceptable. So we’re staying mobilized, we’re carrying on,” Arnaud Rousseau, president of the FNSEA farm union, told reporters, referring to the Mercosur deal.
The protest piles yet more pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and his government, a day before EU member states are expected to vote on the trade accord. Without a majority in parliament, any policy misstep by Macron risks a perilous vote of no confidence in the chamber.
France has long been a stiff opponent of the trade deal.
Even though Paris has won significant last-minute concessions, the trade deal is a political hot potato for the government, with municipal elections in March and the far-right polling strongly ahead of the 2027 elections to replace Macron.
“This treaty is still not acceptable,” government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told France Info radio.
French Farm Minister Annie Genevard said on Wednesday that, even if EU members backed the accord, France would continue to fight against it in the European Parliament, whose approval will also be required for the agreement to enter into force.
This week, the European Commission proposed making €45 billion of EU funding available to farmers earlier in the bloc’s next seven-year budget and agreed to cut import duties on some fertilizers in a bid to win over countries wavering in their support for Mercosur.
The deal is backed by countries such as Germany and Spain, and the Commission appeared closer to winning Italy’s backing.
Rome’s support for the deal would mean the EU had the votes needed to approve the trade accord even without French support.
A vote on the accord is expected on Friday.
