France opens inquiry into UK-funded 4x4 used against student protesters in Dunkirk

Mixed · 2The French government has confirmed an investigation into why a 4x4 vehicle paid for by the UK to help stop asylum seekers crossing the Channel was used during a school students' protest in Dunkirk. 1 2 Mixed · 2A spokesperson for Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez's office, asked why the vehicle was used against a schools protest, said: "We can confirm the opening of an investigation into this." 1 2 Mixed · 2The vehicle is a Masstech VEZI (Vehicule d'Eclairage de Zone d'Intervention), a Land Cruiser-type 4x4 with protective grilles. French broadcaster BFM TV reported the incident on 10 October, with footage showing it driving at speed, reversing and then moving forward again, with a bin caught under a front wheel and dragged along, while students screamed and scattered. 1 2

Mixed · 2According to reports, a 14-year-old girl was injured, taken to hospital with a haematoma and later discharged. She described what happened to her as "unacceptable". 1 2 Mixed · 2VEZIs were bought with UK money under the 2018 Sandhurst treaty, an Anglo-French border agreement under which UK "Sandhurst funds" let the French National Gendarmerie buy equipment such as all-terrain vehicles for dunes and beaches. A French parliamentary inquiry into the Le Touquet border agreements, cited by the Guardian, counted nine VEZIs bought under the treaty and said funded equipment must contribute directly to combating illegal migration to the UK. 1 2 Mixed · 2Utopia 56, a charity supporting asylum seekers in northern France, said the practice of using 4x4s to chase people at the protest is the same one used on the beaches. It called this "disproportionate force" and said such methods tested at the border would be replicated in other contexts. 1 2

Left · 1The Guardian also quoted unnamed sources close to the investigation, one saying "I don’t think the British are aware that their money is being used to beat French kids" and another voicing concern about the militarisation of French policing. The UK Home Office declined to comment. 1 Left · 1The incident sits within wider unrest. The Guardian describes school protests in their third week, with an estimated 160,000 people involved, over crumbling schools and teacher shortages, and criticism of policing after teargas was fired in two areas. 1 Right · 1GB News reports a larger and more violent picture: it says the unrest began at a high school in Créteil, that police arrested more than 1,800 people on Saturday as more than 550,000 demonstrated nationwide, and that about 500 emergency service workers were injured. It also reports about 1,500 shops damaged and Limoges town hall largely destroyed by fire. It adds that Donald Trump and JD Vance made comments about immigration and that Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu blamed the "ultra-left" and criminals, with President Macron due to address the nation. 2

Left · 1The investigation's scope, any findings, and whether the UK will react are not reported. 1