The French town caught up in ‘war’ between police and migrants

Grand-Fort-Philippe’s residents spent years living a life largely undisturbed by migrants – until clashes began to erupt

For years, residents of Grand-Fort-Philippe in the north of France lived a life largely undisturbed by migrants who attempted crossings from their local beaches. Relations were cordial, even.
Many in the town would exchange polite bonjours with the men, women and children biding their time in the small seaside town located between Calais and Dunkirk until weather conditions turned in their favour.
The migrants kept largely to themselves, and many locals took pity on the plight of the exiled who were fleeing war – and political, religious and sexual persecution.
But in the past few months, something has shifted. Clashes between migrants and police have erupted, moving from the beaches about a mile out and into residential areas.
The once-peaceful town of about 5,200 people is now host to an “urban guerilla warfare” pitting tear gas and shields against stones and pebbles – and triggering travel warnings for British tourists.
Caught in the middle are the locals, whose property has become collateral damage and whose daily lives have been upended.
“Between us and the migrants, there’s no problem,” said Yvon Agez, a retiree who has lived his whole life in Grand-Fort-Philippe. “They pass by, we exchange hellos, and that’s that.”
He added: “Now that police are preventing them from leaving it’s become war, a war between police and migrants. If the police would just let them cross, there’d be no problem.”
The push by French police is part of a wider effort to confront migrants and people smugglers up and down the coast in close co-operation with Britain, which signed a multimillion-pound security deal to “stop the boats”.
Migrants driven away from the beaches now look to towns like Grand-Fort-Philippe, with canals and rivers where they can launch boats away from the new surveillance and security systems along the coast.
A new “Jungle” camp has even sprung up on the outskirts of the town near Dunkirk, where many migrants sleep in tents until they can negotiate a space in a dinghy supplied by the network of people smugglers.
Police reinforcements were finally called into Grand-Fort-Philippe earlier this month after pleas from local mayors. But in true French style, the authorities were heavy-handed, triggering the round of violence that has angered locals.
On Aug 13, about 50 migrants were blocked from boarding an inflatable boat, leading to scuffles on the beach which quickly spread to residential streets. The incident followed a similar incident the night before.
Police are now puncturing boats and chasing out migrants who habitually hide out in the local Parc de l’Estran and in historic bunkers that are relics from the Second World War.
Migrants, angry and frustrated at being prevented from making the final leg of their Odyssey-like journey and crossing to the UK, have responded by throwing projectiles – rocks, stones, pebbles — at police, parked cars and windows in the neighbourhood.
Chaos has often ensued, with police lobbing canisters of tear gas, using their truncheons and unleashing dogs to disperse crowds.
Since the escalation of violence, residents speak of living under a low-hanging cloud of fear and anxiety. 
Mr Agez started chaperoning his 12-year-old granddaughter to and from school, worried she might get caught in the cross-hairs of an outbreak of violence.
“We are afraid. We don’t know what could happen,” he said.
In the neighbouring town of Gravelines, one family found migrants blowing up a boat in their backyard in the middle of the night to evade police detection.
“Can you imagine waking up in the middle of the night, and finding people in your garden blowing up a boat?” Bertrand Ringot, the mayor of Gravelines, told The Telegraph. “It happened once but I sense that it could become a new tactic.”
Mr Ringot was one of the mayors that called for more security, leading to an extra 35 police and gendarmes to patrol the area.
But the initial result has been chaos.
“The more law enforcement there is, the more complicated the situation becomes,” Mr Ringot admitted.
Many locals The Telegraph spoke to called for police to step aside and let the migrants cross as an easy way to restore order.
However, Eddy Ferrar, the deputy of security at Grand-Fort-Philippe’s town hall, said police are the only ones who can stop people smugglers sending migrants, often ill-equipped, out to sea.
“We can’t let people like that, children and whole families, go out to sea at the risk of drowning and certainly of being stranded at sea. It’s simply saving their lives,” he said.
Utopia 56, a migrant aid association, has a different take. Thomas Chambon, a spokesman for the group, points out that many of the deaths this year happened within 1,000 to 1,300 feet of the shore.
It is a new pattern that can be explained by clashes with police on the beach which create chaos and panic.
“Very often, it makes people leave in a hurry, either on improperly inflated boats, boats that haven’t been properly assembled or on boats that have been punctured by police,” Mr Chambon said.
Since the beginning of the year, 25 people have died while attempting to cross the Channel, more than double the number of fatalities in 2023.
On paper, police are prohibited from intervening when small boats are already in the water. 
But a Le Monde, Observer and Lighthouse Reports investigation, published in March, found evidence of French police chasing after migrants and performing dangerous manoeuvres in the water, aimed at destabilising the boats.
Mr Chambon claims that police are indiscriminate about their use of violence and that it is not uncommon for families with young children and pregnant women to be tear-gassed.
For many locals, however, the increased police presence has been reassuring, particularly for those with children and those spending more time outdoors during the summer holiday.
“It’s not the aim of migrants to attack people in the streets. But in a fit of anger, you don’t know what could happen,” Mr Ferrar said.
“People are happy to see the police. We see people thanking them, sometimes bringing them coffee, sometimes bringing something to eat and to chat.”
Others think the increased police presence, and their use of force, has intensified confrontations.
“If I were a policeman, I would turn the other way,” said Bernard Paillart, 75, another lifelong resident of Grand-Fort-Philippe.
Mr Paillart acknowledges that the migrant crisis has impacted the community. People are less likely to leave their homes at night, and the sound of patrolling helicopters and military planes overhead is particularly disruptive at night.
The subject has divided the town. On the community Facebook page he administers for his 9,000 followers, some express sympathy for migrants, while others take a more hard-line approach.
“It breaks my heart to see little children walking down the road, to try and reach El Dorado in England,” Mr Paillart said.
“We live happily. These people are just looking for their own happiness, and we’re preventing that from happening.”
While the town has been dealing with the migrant crisis for years, Mr Ferrar warned that everything from political conflicts to climate change will only exacerbate the situation in the years to come, with serious implications for the community.
“It’s unfortunate and unthinkable that, in 2024, we’re seeing people in this situation dying in the hope of a better life,” he said.
“But this is just the beginning of the migrant crisis. It’s going to get worse over the next 20 years. And you have to wonder what’s going to happen to our communities.”