France, Britain in a Show of Military Force Over Jersey Island Published May 6th, 2021 - 08:54 GMT
French boats steam across the water outside the port of St Helier on Thursday morning as they continued their demonstration. (AFP)
Highlights
Emmanuel Macron has sent a military boat racing at full speed towards Jersey.
Emmanuel Macron has sent a military boat racing at full speed towards Jersey for a stand-off with the Royal Navy as 100 French fishing vessels blockade the harbour.
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Athos was hurtling towards the British Crown dependency to confront HMS Severn and HMS Tamar - despite them being far superior in size and power - as they monitor the protest over post-Brexit fishing rights.
LONDON
The atmospherics may be redolent of a nautical-themed Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, but competing British and French maritime patrols in the English Channel illustrate the very real frictions stemming from Brexit, the U.K. s messy departure from the European Union.
No one thinks the countries’ confrontation over fishing rights is going to escalate into an actual shootout between the two French patrol boats and the two Royal Navy vessels dispatched to the island of Jersey “we are not ready for war,” a European lawmaker told the BBC. But livelihoods and long-held seafaring traditions are at stake in the dispute, which comes in the wake of a punishing pandemic year.
Four months into Brexit, the UK and France have resorted to gunboat diplomacy over fish cnn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cnn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has sent two Navy patrol vessels to Jersey over concerns that French fishermen could blockade its main port in an escalating post-Brexit row.
Meanwhile French fishermen plan to converge on the island’s main port St Helier on Thursday (6 May), although authorities have said they do not intend to block access.
On Thursday morning, around 100 French fishing vessels will sail to Jersey port to protest over the issuing of the licences, the head of fisheries for the Normandy region, Dimitri Rogoff, told AFP.
Rogoff said however that they would not try to blockade the port and would return to France in the afternoon.
Moment French trawler rams UK boat then chases after it as tense stand-off in Channel escalates with Macron sending SECOND gunboat to meet two Royal Navy warships after EU accuses island of breaking Brexit law
HMS Severn and HMS Tamar were sent from Portsmouth as a precaution in ratcheting up of row with France
The Royal Navy ships are roaming Channel after Paris warned yesterday it could cut off electricity to Jersey
PM deployed the ships after intelligence said 100 French boats could blockade Saint Helier Thursday morning
French maritime minister yesterday accused Jersey of dragging its feet over licences for French fishing boats