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IMMIGRATION

Northern French towns limit fuel sales in bid to stop migrant Channel crossings

Towns along France's northern coast on Thursday limited takeaway sales of fuel to 10 litres per customer to curb illegal migration across the Channel, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.

Northern French towns limit fuel sales in bid to stop migrant Channel crossings
Photo: Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP.

“Buying or selling more than 10 litres of fuel – petrol or diesel – in hand-carried containers is prohibited,” the order issued Thursday said, according to La Voix du Nord daily. There is an exception for those who require fuel for professional reasons.

The prefecture for the Pas-de-Calais department said the measure was necessary given a “growing presence” of migrants seeking to cross illegally to Britain.

The decree noted that petrol-fuelled outboard motors were “one of the main ways” of making the perilous voyage.

READ ALSO UK government to give France €62 million to tackle illegal Channel crossings

Since January 1st, authorities have recorded more than 700 attempted or successful crossings, the decree said, arguing for “all useful steps to dissuade and obstruct the organisation of such illegal and dangerous crossings”.

The measure, valid for two months, calls for a fine of €135 euros, which could rise to €3,700 for multiple offenders.

On Monday, British authorities recorded a new record of 430 migrant arrivals.

The BBC has reported that nearly 8,000 people aboard some 345 boats have reached British shores so far this year.

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IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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