French fishermen threaten to block Channel Tunnel, ports in protest over fishing licenses
French fishermen have
said they will block access to the Eurotunnel and English Channel ports in
northern France on Friday in protest over post-Brexit fishing
rights.
A post on Thursday from
a fishermen's group on Facebook said they would block ferries in Saint-Malo,
Calais and Ouistreham "to denounce the conditions of the Brexit deal and
its consequences on fishermen."
The head of a
fishermen's association told CNN that a protest would start at 1 p.m. local
time in Ouistreham and that 15 boats would block the port in the area. He said
other groups would be blocking two other areas.
The fishermen said they
were sending "a warning" to demand the rapid granting by the UK of
post-Brexit fishing licenses.
"We
don't want handouts, we just want our licenses back. The UK must abide by the
post-Brexit deal. Too many fishermen are still in the dark," declared
Gérard Romiti, the president of the national committee for maritime fisheries,
according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.
The fishermen's
association told an online news conference that a large number of vehicles
would be used to block access to the Eurotunnel, which is used to move goods by
rail between Britain and France, according to Reuters.
The UK government
responded Thursday saying it was "disappointed" by threats of
protests by French fishermen.
"We look to the
French authorities to ensure that there are no illegal actions and trade is not
affected," a Downing Street spokesperson said. "We have licensed
nearly 1,700 EU vessels overall; our approach to licensing has been reasonable
and fully in line with our commitments in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement
(TCA).
"We continue to
work with the Commission and the French authorities and will consider any
further evidence provided to support remaining license applications."
The protests represent
the latest round of tensions in a long-running dispute between the UK and
France over the rights of French and British vessels to fish in each country's
waters following Brexit.
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