Banners urging “Don’t let refugees drown” and “Refugees Welcome Here” were among those held up at a vigil at Downing Street last Thursday.
Organised by Care4 Calais and Stand up to Racism it lamented the deaths of four people in the Channel on 14 December and condemned the asylum policy of the UK government. Eight children were among 39 people rescued in freezing temperatures.
The incident came a day after the Prime Minister unveiled a plan aimed at curbing Channel crossings. An hour-long candle-lit vigil was held in Deal, Kent, the same evening, paying tribute to the lives lost in the tragedy in the Channel. Protesters, some from local churches and a mosque, gathered on Folkestone beach to lay flowers and to demand safe migrant routes. A minute’s silence was held and “No More Deaths” written in the sand.
The latest deaths came just a few weeks after the anniversary of another dinghy sinking in the Channel on 24 November 2021, killing at least 27 people. Phil Kerton of Southwark Justice and Peace and Seeking Sanctuary reported that more than 100 people attended each vigil.
“This horrific news fulfils forecasts that we and others have been making for years,” he told The Tablet. “Who knows how many more have perished in the Channel without their deaths being observed or their bodies recovered?”
Seeking Sanctuary has called for a reception centre in Calais where asylum seekers can make their claims in safe and legal ways and cross to the UK once claims have been registered. The key call is for safe passage for migrants. Refugee groups such as the Jesuit Refugee Service urge “protection of refugees as the UK government cracks down on asylum”. Marking International Migrants Day on 18 December Sciaf tweeted, “We stand with people on the move and pray that they are welcomed wherever in the world they are living” and Pax Christi Scotland tweeted, “We pray today for the millions of our brothers and sisters displaced by violence, poverty, climate change; pushing them away solves nothing.”
Meanwhile, a London court on Monday deliberated on the legal challenge to the government’s offshore detention plans as refugee campaign groups stood outside and ruled the UK plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda legal. Judges dismissed the legal challenge from asylum seekers, aid groups and a border officials’ union. “This ruling from the High Court makes the Rwanda plan no less immoral or cruel,” said Together with Refugees, a coalition of more than 550 organisations, including many faith groups, adding, "This fight isn't over."
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