Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 31, an immigration processing center in the main port of southern Britain, was thrown into a fire bomb on October 30, causing two people to be injured. Public opinion believes that the attack on the Immigration Handling Center shows that the issue of illegal immigration has become a difficult social problem in the UK at the moment.
Kent County police reported that a suspect drove to an immigration treatment center on the morning of the 30th and threw "2 to 3 combustion devices", resulting in minor injuries to two people in the center.
This is a border law enforcement patrol ship anchored at the dock, taken on November 29, 2021 in Dover, England. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Rey Tang)
Shortly later, the police found the suspect dead at a nearby gas station and found another unlit combustion device in his car. Police said that the suspect's identity has been determined and the motive for the attack is not yet clear, so the case will not be listed as a terrorist attack.
The police did not disclose the cause of the suspect's death. Local MP Natalie Elfik told London Broadcasting Corporation that the suspect "deathed by suicide".
According to Reuters , this immigration processing center is the "first stop" for a large number of stowaways across the English Channel to arrive in the UK. After a short stay here, they will be sent to other receiving points, waiting for the immigration department to process their residence applications.
On November 24, 2021, the immigrant sat in a car and waited to leave after arriving in Dover, England. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Steve Finn)
police said that the immigration processing center was not closed after the attack, and about 700 of them were taken to another immigration processing center in Kent.
Elfik said the attacks show that tensions caused by the surge in illegal immigration have continued to intensify over some time.
After the UK officially left European Union on January 31, 2020, the British government promised to strengthen border control, but the illegal entry of to has not decreased. British government statistics show that on October 29 alone, about 990 people smuggled into the UK by boat through the English Channel. This year, the number of people illegally entering the UK in this way has reached nearly 40,000.
The sharp increase in illegal immigration has caused the British government to be criticized for its poor border control on the one hand, and on the other hand, it has been criticized for its "inhuman" treatment. The Times quoted multiple sources from the British government on the 29th to criticize Home Secretary Sura Braverman's decision directly led to overcrowding and outbreak of infectious diseases in an immigration processing center in Kent.
On November 24, 2021, immigrants arrived on the coast of Cape Dungeres, England by boat. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Steve Finn)
In April this year, the British government reached an agreement with the African country's Rwanda government, intending to deport foreigners who have smuggled into the UK through the English Channel this year for "refuge" to Rwanda in batches. According to AFP , Brevorman once expressed support for this plan.
However, the "Rwanda Plan" was criticized for "outsourcing the responsibility for protecting immigrants and refugees to third countries", which was opposed by many parties. Due to the intervention of European Court of Human Rights , the first charter flight originally scheduled to carry a group of smugglers to Rwanda to June 14 was cancelled at the last moment.
Illegal immigration problem has led to a tightening relationship between the UK and France in recent years. British Prime Minister Rich Sunak spoke on the phone with French President Emmanuel Macron on the 28th for the first time. The British government said the leaders of the two countries agreed to strengthen cooperation to combat smuggling across the English Channel, but France did not mention the topic in its statement. (Gao Jie)
