Protestors have blockaded a French port, preventing thirty British yachts from leaving the country.
Over sixty British tourists have been trapped in Cherbourg for a week, and attempts to flee have been met with a barrage of flares and missiles.
French fishermen are protesting over the spiralling costs of diesel by drawing a steel cable across the mouth of Cherbourg harbour. Their actions have threatened to spark a diplomatic incident, with a Conservative MP demanding the French ambassador be called in.
So far British sailors have made two attempts to escape. The first, by a diving boat, was successful, despite the vessel being chased by fishing boats and bombarded with a hail of glass bottles.
“The Dunkirk spirit just caught on and we went for it,” the captain, 43-year-old Steve Johnson, told The Mail on Sunday.
A second attempt was thwarted after a boat was set on fire by a flare launched by protestors. The fire was quickly extinguished, and no-one was injured.
French police have so far made no attempt to quell the protest, according to the trapped sailors.
Who do those French fishermen think they are, French farmers?
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