French police in £660m deal with UK authorised to use water cannon on asylum seekers

French riot police deployed in northern France under a £660m deal with the UK are authorised to use water cannon against asylum seekers, the Guardian has been told. Two specialist policing units, including a 50-officer riot squad, have begun working to prevent asylum seekers and people smugglers from launching small boats under the UK-France deal in time for the summer months. Informed sources said that French riot officers from the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) are free to request the use of water cannon, CS gas and batons as part of their public order powers. Use of water cannon, which can fire a high velocity stream powerful enough to knock people off their feet, is prohibited in Great Britain owing to concerns that they are a threat to “policing by consent”. However, they can be deployed in Northern Ireland and were used last week to quell anti-immigration protests. Any use of water cannon would be “sickening”, a refugee charity said. Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais, said: “This would be a sickening escalation in the state violence being waged against refugees here in Calais. “The UK government treats refugees as second-class citizens, and funding these types of indiscriminate, violent tactics against refugees in France would underline that. If the use of water cannon is prohibited in Great Britain, then we shouldn’t have a government backing its use against communities in another country. …