The UK Government has been accused of “fascism” over the treatment of migrants at the overcrowded Manston detention centre.
Robina Qureshi, Scotland’s foremost campaigner on the rights of asylum seekers, said that Home Secretary Suella Braverman has assumed the “jackbooted form” of the National Front over her treatment of asylum seekers.
Manston has been engulfed in a crisis which has seen the numbers of people held at the centre swell far past its safe limits.
Around 3,500 people remained at the facility in Kent on Wednesday night – despite its maximum capacity of 1,600 – and the Home Secretary has come under fire for overseeing “inhumane” treatment of migrants.
However, in a combative Commons debate this week, in Ms Braverman claimed there is an “invasion” of England by people crossing the Channel.
When speaking to our writer at large Neil Mackay, Ms Qureshi said that the Home Secretary’s words were “the language of the far right” and an “incitement to violence”.
“The Home Secretary has merged into the same jackbooted form as the National Front,” she said.
“Multiple reports suggest Braverman had a direct hand in blocking refugee transfers and perpetuating wretched, dangerously overcrowded conditions.”
Ms Qureshi pointed to comments by Conservative MP Lee Anderson in Parliament saying that “if the accommodation is not good enough, they can get on a dinghy and go back to France”. Braverman replied: “My friend is right … any complaints that the accommodation isn’t good enough is absolutely indulgent and ungrateful.”
Ms Qureshi commented: “We’re watching fascism unfolding before our eyes. It is a matter of time before they shoot people in the English Channel. This is the logical conclusion of Braverman’s ideology.
“The global refugee crisis is growing by the tens of millions each year. Sadly, there’s no legal route here for brown and black refugees. Only safe, legal avenues will stop human smuggling and incentivise people to use those routes, the way the Ukrainians do now through visas.”
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