Police violence against people attempting to cross the English Channel has surged by 40 per cent this year, charities have said.
A coalition of six charities working in northern France said the situation at the UK-France border situation is becoming “increasingly catastrophic” with instances of women and children experiencing tear gas and broken bones from police violence.
One of these organisations, Utopia 56, which provides emergency response to people following English Channel crossing attempts, said more than a third of the people they supported this year have reported experiencing police violence – an increase of nearly 40 per cent compared to the same period in 2025.
It comes after the Home Office praised action by French units funded by the UK to prevent Channel crossings. The joint effort claims to have stopped 185 departures involving 4,300 people between 27 April and 2 August this year.
Calais Appeal has claimed the Home Office is ignoring the direct link between increased border securitisation and the increased deaths and violence towards people attempting to reach the UK.
Utopia 56 said there had been instances of mothers being injured or separated from their children as border forces attempted to prevent crossings.
Katie Hall, advocacy lead at Project Play, a charity which offers mobile play services for children at the sites, said: “We regularly hear children tell us about their experiences of police violence during crossing attempts, and in the informal living sites where their families live.
“We have worked with children as young as two months old who have been tear-gassed by police, and parents who have had bones broken in front of their children during beatings from police. Behind the government’s celebration of ‘success’, this is the reality.”
On 27 July, a mother was injured when a gendarmerie buggy ran over her leg while police pursued a group running on the beach. In May, a three-year-old child was found alone on a boat after his pregnant mother was held on shore by French police.
Since the beginning of the year, the Refugee Women’s Centre has encountered at least 27 families separated on the beaches during police interceptions, it says.
Footage was released last week of French law enforcement officers coming under attack while attempting to intercept a small boat launch on a northern beach. Individuals in life jackets threw objects at police officers in an effort to keep them away from their dinghy, while officers responded by spraying Pava before slashing the inflatable vessel with a knife.
Ms Hall warned that the increasing number of people on board vessels hoping to make a crossing was connected to the violence at the border.
“We are increasingly hearing about dangerously overcrowded boats. Research has shown the link between violent repression and overcrowding, as fewer boats make it to the beaches. Whilst access to safe routes to asylum remain inaccessible for so many who need them, fewer boats will not mean fewer people – it will mean more cases of dangerous overcrowding. This is a particular risk for children – at least five children were killed in 2026, each as a result of overcrowding.”
Salomé Brun, communications and advocacy lead at Calais Appeal, called on the UK and Europe to reopen safe routes of asylum in order to prevent further violence.
“What we are seeing at the UK’s border with France is increasingly violent repression of people seeking safety. As long as safe routes to asylum – in the UK, France and across Europe – continue to be eroded, people will continue to make this journey. Meeting them with more violence makes their situation exponentially more dangerous.
“It means more people – particularly women, children and families – stuck for prolonged periods of time in dangerous conditions in northern France. It means departure points are pushed ever further south, with sea journeys taking longer, and it means escalating state violence on the beaches of northern France.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: "This government is bearing down on dangerous small boat crossings and restoring control at our border. Joint efforts have seen over 48,000 crossing attempts prevented and 1,100 boats and engines seized since the election.
“We are making progress, with the number of small boat crossings down this year and the lowest number recorded for the month of July since 2020.
“But we must go further, which is why we have signed a payment-by-results deal with the French to put 40 per cent more boots on the ground on French beaches.”
The Independent has contacted the French police for comment.
