Ten members of a British far-right group have been prohibited from entering France, after being accused of destroying small boats used by migrants attempting to reach the UK.
The French Interior Ministry confirmed on Wednesday that the prohibition, enacted on Tuesday, prevents activists from the “Raise the Colours” group from entering or remaining in French territory.
The ministry stated that the anti-migrant organisation’s militants have been actively seeking out and destroying vessels utilised on the cross-Channel migration route from France to Britain. Additionally, the group’s members have engaged in “propaganda activities” along the northern French coastline.
These efforts were reportedly “aimed at the British public, which was called upon to strengthen the movement’s ranks in order to put an end to the migration phenomenon”.
The ministry did not name the 10 British nationals but said they had been “identified as militants within the movement who carried out actions on French territory”.
Cross-Channel migration has become a thorn in relations between Britain and France in recent years and is a particularly divisive political issue in the UK.
More than 41,000 people crossed the Channel to the UK in small boats last year, an increase on 2024 but fewer than the 2022 record, when more than 45,000 people made the crossing, according to the Home Office.
On 7 January, a major supplier of small boats and engines believed to be used in thousands of Channel crossings to the UK was jailed for 11 years and fined €400,000 (£346,590).
Turkish national Adem Savas, 45, was sentenced at a Belgian court on Wednesday after a joint operation between the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Belgian authorities.
The NCA believe in 2023 Savas will have supplied equipment used in around half of all Channel crossings, making him the agency’s most wanted man as a key player in European people smuggling circles.
