BBC sees people struggling on migrant boat before five died
By Andrew Harding
It started with a shout in the dark.
A French policeman had spotted a mass of people moving from the sand dunes overlooking the English Chanel near the resort town of Wimereux. Seconds later, the entire beach seemed to erupt into chaos.
More than a dozen policemen were now running across the sand towards the shoreline, hoping to intercept two groups of migrants who were now visible in the moonlight.
We could see young men dragging an inflatable boat towards the sea, and several women struggling to keep up with the group, and then bursting into tears as they realised they would be intercepted by the police.
As the converging groups of migrants gathered by the water’s edge, the scene turned suddenly violent. Several men threw fireworks towards the police. There were skirmishes and loud explosions and white smoke drifted across the beach.
The crowd clustered around the inflatable boat, seeking to protect it from the police. At least two men circled the group, wielding large sticks or rods and appearing to threaten the police with them.
Barely two minutes had passed, but already the boat was in shallow water and people started to clamber aboard.
“What else could we do?” said a police officer at the scene.
