London.-A total of 703 migrants have crossed the English Channel into the UK, the highest number in a single day since British Prime Minister Keir Starmer came to power on July 5, and the third highest in 2024, according to figures released by the Home Office on Monday.
According to the ministry, 11 vessels were counted on Sunday, each carrying an average of 64 people.
The highest number so far in 2024 was on 18 June, when 882 people crossed the Channel, while the second highest was 711 on 1 May, both cases before the UK general election on 4 July.
Since January 1, 2024, a total of 18,342 people have crossed the Channel between England and France in small boats, an increase of 13% compared to the same period last year, the source said.
In the whole of 2023, there were 29,437 arrivals, 36% less than the record of 45,774 in 2022.
The data was released days after violent riots broke out in several British cities instigated by far-right groups critical of the arrival of migrants.
These groups resorted to violence after a young man identified as Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales to Rwandan parents, stabbed three girls to death and injured ten other people, eight of them minors, in a community centre in Southport (northeast) on 29 July.
Far-right groups responded to false information circulating on social media claiming that Rudakubana was an asylum seeker.
The boat, with around 50 people on board, ended up sinking in the French waters of the channel, according to a British police spokesman to Sky News.
The fifty or so rescued people are now in France receiving medical attention.
The canal is an extremely dangerous route due to inclement weather, strong waves and low water temperatures.
Ethnic minorities in the UK, particularly Muslims, are living in fear of violence instigated by far-right groups in British cities, which has forced the reinforcement of security at mosques and the recommendation that some people should not travel alone but in groups.
“This violence, racial violence, does not come out of nowhere. It has been building for at least a couple of decades,” Raheel Mohammed, founder of Maslaha, an organisation that fights discrimination against the Muslim community in London, told EFE.
Mohammed, in his fight against this inequality, believes that “it is a combination of racist legislation and policy, media dehumanization and the rhetoric of politicians” that racism springs up as an excuse in the face of a traumatic event.
The arrival of migrants on British shores has recently been an electoral card, with the controversial Rwanda plan, designed to prevent the landing of small boats by sending asylum seekers to that country (following an agreement with that country), or the rhetoric of populist politician Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party.
Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea, and Sudan are some of the countries of origin that ultras use to create their own profile: dark-skinned and Muslim.
“People are scared… Muslim colleagues are choosing not to go to the city centre,” says Mohammed, even though there has been no violence where they live.
“Fear has spread now,” Infobae categorized.
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2024-08-13 02:35:55
