The horror of Kent's migrant centres

 Migrants are piled in at the Border Force migrant centre after facing a fire attack yesterday, which authorities refuse to label as terrorism.

Credit: Express.Co.Uk

By: Derry Salter.

Yesterday morning, police were called to The Viaduct, after two petrol bombs were thrown by a suspect and started a fire. Surrounding fences were burnt and petrol marks stained the floor. Two people were injured in the fire.

 

Police have increased security in the local area, but most police cordons have been lifted.

 

The Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit later found a further device in the suspect’s car. The suspect, 66, was found dead in his car in a petrol station with self inflicted injuries. The motivation of the perpetrator is being described as ‘unknown’.  The suspect was from High Wycombe, over 100 miles away from the site of the attack.

 

The migrant centre is located near Kent’s port, a key location in migration to the UK.

 

Residents of the area were described as ‘horrified at the overall situation’, but Kent’s Conservative County Councillor Nigel Collor did not clarify whether this was at the fire attack or the migrant situation. However, Councillor Collor did say the concerns were ‘50/50’.

 

Councillor Collor said: ‘I’d like to see them stop the boats coming across.’

 

Similarly, Dover’s Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke has also insinuated migrants are to blame for attack, referencing rising tensions over the number of migrants arriving in town.

 

Home Secretary Suella Braverman responded to the attack calling it ‘distressing’. 700 migrants have been moved from the Kent centre to Manston, another centre 15 miles away, for their safety.

 

Despite this response from the Home Secretary, conditions at Manston have been described as ‘wretched.’ The migrant centre was designed for a maximum of 1,600 people, but nearly 4,000 are now living there. With outbreaks of diphtheria running rife in the centre, Braverman must improve conditions on the pure basis of human rights, regardless of her stance on migration.

 

Hotels across the UK are being taken over by private government organisations in order to house more migrants. This has caused uproar from some citizens.

 

The Home Secretary has blamed a backlog in processing arrivals for the poor condition and hopes to revitalise the scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. She also wants to heighten the use of the Nationality and Borders Bill to prosecute migrants arriving in Kent.