Across the English Channel, the U.K.’s white cliffs beckon. On fine days, men and women with children in their arms and determination in their eyes can see the shoreline of what they believe will be a promised land as they attempt the perilous crossing clandestinely, ditching belongings to squeeze aboard flimsy inflatable boats that set to sea from northern France.

In a flash, on one recent crossing attempt, French police swooped in with knives, wading into the water and slashing the boat’s thin rubber — literally deflating the migrants’ hopes and dreams.

Some of the men put up dispirited resistance, trying to position themselves — in vain — between the boat and the officers’ blades. {snip}

But the team of three officers, one also holding a pepper-gas canister, lunged at the boat again and again, pitching some of those aboard into the surf as it quickly deflated. The Associated Press obtained video of the police boat-slashing, filmed on a beach near the French port of Boulogne.

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Under pressure from U.K. authorities, France’s government is preparing to give an even freer hand to police patrols that, just last week, were twice filmed slashing boats carrying men, women and children.

The video obtained by AP was filmed Monday. Four days later, on Écault beach south of Boulogne, the BBC filmed police wading into the surf and puncturing another boat with box cutters, again pitching people into the water as it deflated.

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The French Interior Ministry told AP that police haven’t been issued orders to systematically slash boats. But the British government — which is partly funding France’s policing efforts — welcomed what it called a “toughening” of the French approach. The U.K. is also pushing France to go further and let officers intervene against boats in deeper waters, a change the government in Paris is considering. Campaigners for migrant rights and a police union warn that doing so could endanger both migrants and officers.

Of the slashing filmed Friday by the BBC, the Interior Ministry said the boat was in distress, overloaded and riding low in the water, with migrants “trying to climb aboard from the back, risking being caught by the propeller.”

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{snip} Deniz, a Kurd with an infectious laugh and a deep singing voice, wanted more than anything to cross the channel in time to celebrate his 44th birthday in August with his 6-year-old daughter, Eden, who lives with her mother in the U.K. {snip}

Refused a short-stay U.K. visa, Deniz said he had no other option than the sea route, but four attempts ended with police wrecking the boats. He said that on one of those occasions, his group of around 40 people begged an officer patrolling alone to turn a blind eye and let them take to sea.

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