Pushing back against a tide of xenophobia which has gripped portions of Europe in recent years, thousands marched in central London on Saturday as they demanded the British government do more to help those forced from their homelands amid endless war in the Middle East and economic crises across Africa and beyond.
Under an overall message declaring “Refugees Welcome,” many of the estimated 30,000 people marching carried signs reading “We Stand with You”; “No to Islamophobia. No to war.”; “Safety is a human right”; and “No Human Being Is Illegal.”
Though a resurgent xenophobia and nationalistic fervor has been the response to the influx of refugees in some places, Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, explained the purpose of Saturday’s march, in addition to applying political pressure, was largely “to show that actually ordinary people in Britain care deeply about refugees.”
Organized by Amnesty, Refugee Action, and other groups, the march comes just two days before a United Nations summit begins in New York to address the humanitarian crisis that has seen large numbers of refugees fleeing to Europe from their war torn homes in the Middle East, with a large portion from Syria, as well as those making the dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossing from North Africa.
According to the UN’s refugee agency, an estimated 300,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe this year alone. Of those, over 3,200 have died or gone missing, and tens of thousands remain stranded in Greece under terrible conditions.
Allen argues the Conservative-led government’s response has fallen well short, but that many British citizens are actively engaged in helping those in need. “While the government’s failure of leadership on the refugee crisis has been utterly shocking,” she said, “local communities have taken matters into their own hands and have been doing what they can to support refugees. Some have campaigned for their councils to take in refugees and held fundraising events or run English classes. Others have been driving supplies over to Calais or heading out to volunteer in refugee camps in Greece.”
As this video put out ahead of the march by organizers shows, the call for increased solidarity with the refugee community is coming from all quarters:
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