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UK's migrant crisis deepens after attack on center

By JONATHAN POWELL in London | China Daily Global | Updated: 2022-11-01 09:32

Ship BF Hurricane arrives in Dover carrying migrants picked up in the English Channel on Oct 18, 2022. [Photo/Agencies]

Britain's migrant crisis deepened on Sunday following a petrol bomb attack on an immigration-processing center in Dover, Kent in southeast England.

A photographer for Reuters news agency who was on the scene reported that a man threw petrol bombs at the Border Force center, and captured the moment the man hurled the incendiary devices from a car window.

The suspect was later found dead nearby after taking his own life, according to a statement from Kent Police. The police confirmed that "a single suspect who arrived at the scene in a car" had thrown "two to three incendiary devices" at the center, and that two people had suffered minor injuries. A motive for the attack remains unclear.

Police added that around 700 migrants were later moved 20 miles from the site to the Manston migrant-processing center in Kent "to ensure safety during the initial phase of the police investigation".

Dover is the main arrival port for migrants crossing the English Channel seaway from France in small boats. Nearly 1,000 migrants arrived in the United Kingdom on Sunday, after making the dangerous journey across the world's busiest shipping lane and landing at Dover, Sky News reported. Authorities estimate that so far this year, nearly 40,000 people have made the journey.

Concerns have been mounting about overcrowding and disease at the Manston site as well as reports that Home Secretary Suella Braverman decided against moving more migrants to nearby hotels to ease the pressure.

The government disputes this and Braverman faced pressure from Conservative and opposition Labour politicians on Monday to explain why so many migrants were moved to Manston at the weekend despite reports of the poor conditions, reported the BBC.

Charities have warned that the facility in Manston is unhealthy and unsafe.

British media reports at the weekend said more than 4,000 people were at the site that is designed to hold between 1,000 and 1,600.

The Guardian reported that there were now at least eight cases of diphtheria, and cases of scabies and MRSA, and that there have been outbreaks of violence.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick and Conservative member of Parliament Roger Gale visited the Manston center on Sunday to assess what needed to be done, reported the BBC.

Gale said the situation there was a "breach of humane conditions "and that he wants migrants to be processed within 24 hours.

"There are simply far too many people and this situation should never have been allowed to develop, and I'm not sure that it hasn't almost been developed deliberately," he told the BBC Today radio program.

Braverman has been accused of "failing to act on legal advice "received at least three weeks ago that warned migrants were being detained for unlawfully long periods, The Sunday Times reported.

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