Ex-French diplomat blasts 'out of control' migrants in seaside towns amid fears of 'real concern' for locals being 'terrorised'

In a People's Channel investigation, locals recounted people-smugglers and migrants operating with near impunity in French coastal towns, brazenly wandering around local streets in their lifejackets, unchallenged by police.

Philippe, a resident in the town of Gravelines, told GB News: "We're being terrorised by mobs of migrants.They're not just fighting with police, they're damaging our property and cars."

Reacting to GB News's footage, Mr Schichan agreed with host Martin Daubney that the town looks "completely overran" and in "total anarchy".

He said: "I was thinking exactly that when you were showing these images earlier in the programme, it's very revealing that the first victims of this situation are actually this little French town and the people living there.

"And by the way, this is not new. This has been taking place for years, but I think we have reached a point now where things are completely out of control in some of these little towns."

Highlighting that it is equally a problem for the UK as well as France, he added: "It's definitely a UK problem as well, because these people are trying to cross to go to the UK. But it's also very much a French problem with some of these little towns, really under pressure from these illegal migrants arriving in greater and greater numbers.

"So that is a real concern for the French authorities, and for the French Government. Similar to the UK, one of the top priorities of French people is the question of immigration, and this is becoming more and more of a political problem."

As Martin questioned Mr Schichan on whether the French are "outraged" at the migrants being handed "freebies" by authorities such as lifejackets, the ex-Diplomat said although it doesn't get "much attention" in France, that could be "about to change".

He said: "Arguably, this situation gets less attention in France than it gets in the UK, but this might be about to change, because of the size of the problem now and the greater, greater numbers that are arriving in the little towns.

"But it doesn't have the magnitude of these issues as it has in the UK. Nevertheless, there is a greater and greater problem here that the Government is trying to address.

"But as you know, the Government currently is distracted in France with internal divisions and parliamentary fragmentation. So there is little bandwidth for dealing with these kind of issues."

Criticising the lack of action by French police in the towns, Mr Schichan told GB News: "It would be interesting, actually, to ask the French police what what happened there, because I agree that there is a problem in the middle of a French town, that there is no law enforcement to be seen to deal with these issues.

"But the only thing I would say, having worked on these issues in the past as a diplomat, is that it's an extremely difficult and challenging situation to resolve. Because the French authorities always have to balance between enforcing the law and preventing these people to cross, but also ensuring that safety, because in the end they are also human beings."

He concluded: "They live in appalling conditions on the French side, so they are making these balanced decisions all the time. And obviously sometimes it can appear quite shocking and I agree with that, but in the situation of life jackets in particular whether you remove the life jackets or not from them, it's not going to change the determination to cross the channel.

"So the key issue really here is to address the roots of the problem."