Six asylum seekers drown in English Channel due to UK and French criminal acts
The appalling sinking of a boat full of refugees and asylum seekers in the English Channel left at least six people dead. At least 65 people were on board the boat when it capsized on Saturday in the middle of the English Channel, a stretch of water about 50 km between Britain and France.
The deaths are the worst loss of life in the English Channel since at least 27 people died there in November 2021, after a dinghy capsized in rough seas near the French port city of Calais.
Two people are still missing, French authorities said. The confirmed dead are six men from Afghanistan who were in their thirties.
The Financial Times writes: “In the early hours of Saturday, a cargo ship in the English Channel reported a boat in difficulty off the coast of France near the beach of Sangatte, according to a press release from the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the sea of the North “.
French and British coastguards would have intervened and could have saved most of the people on board the damaged boat.
Whatever the immediate circumstances of these deaths, they are the result of the political treatment of migrants by British and French authorities, both determined to keep them away from their borders by all means possible.
According to a report in the Daily Mail on Saturday, “A French warship [PSP Cormoran] was escorting an overloaded small boat across the English Channel into British waters when it sank today, killing at least six migrants… » . He adds, “A second French ship [Pluvier] would have been nearby at the time of the tragedy”.
The report adds that a “knowledgeable source” said that “the boat was being escorted to Britain by a French navy patrol boat when it capsized”, adding: “It is a French policy aimed at ensuring that migrants reach UK waters safely and as quickly as possible…
“French authorities have confirmed that the Cormoran rescued 33 survivors, while the Pluvier rescued five. »
The Mail seeks to play down Britain’s role in the deaths and expresses the Tory government’s position saying: ‘Angry MPs tonight [Saturday] asked why France was not doing more to tackle the crisis , given that the UK is giving the country almost £500m to help stop the crossings. »
Nevertheless, the unfolding of the events described is highly probable. This is not the first time that such an intervention has resulted in mass deaths. All the clues suggest that the Greek Coast Guard caused the death of hundreds of refugees on board the fishing boat Adriana on June 14. An eyewitness said the Coast Guard’s decision to tow the stricken boat away from Greek waters was responsible for the sinking of the vessel and the deaths of more than 600 people.
The deaths in the English Channel have been used by conservatives and right-wing media to add fuel to their anti-immigrant campaign. Crocodile tears were shed, but only to reinforce a message that the staunchly anti-migrant Sunday Express best articulated in a front-page headline: “Please stop the boats”.
The main slogan of the conservative Rishi Sunak government, as it cultivates a fascistic milieu, is: “Stop the boats”. The media applauded the Tories who last month passed the draconian illegal migration bill, which deprives migrants crossing the Channel, who are said to be arriving illegally, of the right to asylum.
The deaths in the English Channel also served to overshadow the brutal events surrounding the arrival of the first asylum seekers aboard a new prison ship, the barge Bibby Stockholm. On Monday, the first 15 migrants were forcibly embarked aboard this barge, moored in the port of Portland (Dorset).
It is the first such craft deployed by the government to detain migrants as part of its policy of expelling 50,000 asylum seekers from hotels, a campaign accompanied by hysterical headlines claiming migrants live in luxury hotels at a cost of 6 million pounds a day, at the expense of the taxpayer.
The asylum seekers were taken on board despite warnings from the firefighters’ union that the craft was dangerous. Twenty refused to board after consulting a lawyer, because the Ministry of the Interior had not even carried out an aptitude test for people deeply traumatized by past experiences, in particular after having witnessed drownings.
On Friday, the Bibby Stockholm was evacuated due to the presence of legionella in the water system on board. It turned out that the Interior Ministry knew that these bacteria had been detected on the ship last Monday, when the first asylum seekers boarded. The pro-government Telegraph daily reported on Saturday: “A spokesman for the militant group Stand Up To Racism, which is in contact with asylum seekers, said three of them claimed to have symptoms similar to influenza and compatible with legionellosis. It looks like they have been tested but still awaiting results.
The FBU firefighters union commented: “This Legionnaires’ disease outbreak suggests that it is only a matter of time before lives are lost or an inmate is seriously injured.
Virtually none of those sent on a dangerous, disease-ridden boat had entered Britain illegally under government criteria. The Independent reports: “After speaking to charities and law firms working with more than 30 asylum seekers who were ordered onto the barge by the Home Office, The Independent does not is aware of only two people who arrived on small boats. All the others used regular airliners to reach the UK, with some claiming asylum at the airport shortly after landing, meaning they did not enter the country illegally. »
None of this will have the slightest effect on a government determined to impose its brutal policies. Mass hotel evictions are underway, including 40 asylum seekers facing eviction from a hotel in Scarborough by August 16. About fifty have already been expelled from hotels. The North Yorkshire council had to refer some families at the hotel to homeless services. The BBC reported that 400 Afghan asylum seekers have been evicted from hotels in Essex.
On Sunday, the Telegraph reported that the government would “hire more barges to house asylum seekers and house up to 5,000 migrants in offices and student rooms”. The “10 unused halls of residence and old office buildings” planned, had an “average capacity of approximately 500 places per site”.
Some Ministry of Defense sites are also used. “Officials are encouraged that legal remedies have so far failed to prevent migrants from being moved to former military sites like Wethersfield, Essex. Our newspaper [Telegraph] understands that another base, RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, will start receiving migrants from next month.”
The policy of subjecting asylum seekers to appalling conditions is meant to serve as a warning to all other asylum seekers: this is what awaits you if you arrive on UK shores. In an interview with the Telegraph, Tory MP for South Thanet Craig Mackinlay said: ‘This type of housing, whether it’s office blocks, former student accommodation or floating barges, no has only positive effects to dissuade them from coming. Being put on a barge won’t have the same attractions as a three or four star hotel in Pimlico [uptown London].
The Tories are pushing ahead – despite legal challenges – with their fascistic policy of deporting asylum seekers as soon as they arrive in Britain, thousands of miles away, to Rwanda or another ‘third country’. The countries designated as “safe” include Niger, which has just experienced a military putsch and is the new powder keg in the struggle of the imperialist powers for a new division of the world.
Tory MP Marco Longhi said: “The tragic loss of life in the English Channel was only a matter of time – and it will happen again and again until we dissuade people from trying to cross. Unless we can declare, and execute, a policy that says ‘come to the UK illegally and you will be sent back to Rwanda or wherever’, we will continue to disappoint not only the British people, but also those who cross the Channel.
The full repressive force of the state is being brought down on a few thousand people fleeing their poor, war-torn countries, destroyed by decades of imperialist war and intrigue by Western powers. Only some 15,800 people have crossed the Channel this year, according to the government, down around 15 per cent from the same period last year.
Thus article is originally published on wsws.org
