The British government is coming under increasing pressure because of the growing number of boat refugees in the English Channel. Also on Sunday, British authorities attacked six Iranians who had crossed the canal with a dinghy, the British news agency PA reported, citing the Interior Ministry.
Meanwhile, similar cases are piling up. According to the BBC, between early November and late December more than 220 people attempted to cross the strait between France and the United Kingdom in small boats. Alone since Christmas Eve, 100 people are said to have set off in this way.
Interior Minister Sajid Javid had declared the situation on Friday a "serious event" and canceled his family vacation. His French counterpart, Christophe Castaner, said on Twitter on Sunday that he had agreed by phone with Javid to step up the fight against illegal migration across the English Channel.
Daring crossing
"The situation in the English Channel is worrying, and people are risking their lives in daring attempts to reach Britain in unsafe boats in treacherous conditions," Javid said. The English Channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
The opposition described the government's reaction as too slow. "The Ministry of the Interior's inadequate strategy has been to deter refugees, hoping Mediterranean problems would never reach our shores," MEP Diane Abbott of the opposition Labor Party wrote in the Sunday Mirror.
She also accused the government of instrumentalizing the issue in light of the Brexit vote in the British Parliament in January. "It's the old Farage tactic: 'Hordes of people are trying to storm our country' - that's what scares people," said the politician, referring to former Ukip politician Nigel Farage. He had made illegal migration one of the main aspects of Brexit's advocacy.
Number of patrol boats to be increased
The conservative MP in the House of Commons for Dover, Charlie Elphicke, called for increasing the number of patrol boats. In addition, two boats should be used, which are currently in use in the Mediterranean, wrote Elphicke in the "Mail on Sunday".
According to a BBC report, migrants are urged by smugglers to make the dangerous crossing in the winter, with reference to Britain's upcoming EU exit on 29 March and allegedly increased border patrols. The topic of migration had played a major role in the narrow victory of the Brexit supporters in the 2016 referendum. The government has set itself the goal of massively reducing immigration.
It was not until Friday that twelve men from Syria and Iran were arrested off the coast of Dover, who had set off for Britain in two inflatable boats.
Several rescue operations on the Mediterranean
Numerous people were picked up on the weekend also off the coast of Cyprus, Turkey and the Greek islands in the east of the Aegean. The Greek Coast Guard and the European Border Protection Agency alone (Frontex) saved 69 people from Lesbos and the small island of Farmakonisi. The Cypriot police attacked 37 migrants. According to the Anadolu state agency in the province of Izmir, the Turkish authorities imposed 109 migrants who wanted to leave the country illegally.
Two ships of German aid organizations meanwhile waited with a total of dozens of rescued migrants in the Mediterranean for the permission to start a port. The Regensburg-based NGO Sea Eye had taken 17 fugitives off the Libyan coast. The "Sea Watch 3" is also on the road in the Mediterranean for more than 30 refugees on board for days.