The Home Office has been accused of “callousness” and “inhumanity” after blaming asylum seekers for the spread of the coronavirus in a military camp where hundreds are being held, with dozens to a dormitory. Residents have been banned from leaving Napier Barracks, in Kent, since Saturday after a number of individuals tested positive for Covid-19. They were told they were “not to leave the site under any circumstance” and that if they did they.
Priti Patel wants to keep housing asylum seekers at a disused Kent Army barracks despite calls to shut it down amid concerns of a major health crisis .
A coronavirus outbreak has hit the military site in Folkestone, Kent, where hundreds of people are living behind the barbed wire-topped fences.
There have been reports of suicide attempts in the Army barracks and many residents went on hunger strike in protest of the conditions which reportedly include 34 people sharing one shower.
Many of those living at Napier Barracks crossed to the UK from France aboard small boats. Charities are calling for the site to be shut as a result of the entirely predictable Covid-19 crisis as they say social distancing is impossible.
LONDON: An outbreak of COVID-19 at an asylum-seeker holding center in the UK has led to hundreds of people being locked inside as part of blanket quarantine measures that campaigners and residents have called “dangerous.” The disused Napier Barracks in Kent is home to around 400 people, including medically vulnerable individuals, who have been warned they face arrest if they
The growing housing crisis facing young vulnerable refugees in Kent
The Kent Refugee Action Network has raised £10,000 towards a housing initiative
Many young refugees struggle to find accommodation once they reach the age of 21 (Image: Andy Aitchison)
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Refugees from Sudan, Eritrea and Iraq reveal their heartbreaking journeys to the UK and the kindness of people in Kent
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Updated: 08:27, 31 December 2020
This year thousands of people have crossed the perilous Channel strait to the Kent coast, in an effort to escape war, persecution and brutality.
People landing on the Kinsgdown shore after crossing the Channel. Picture Christian Thrale
People have sought sanctuary in England for decades, and many were lucky enough to survive their arduous journeys to settle and build lives for themselves alongside the people of Kent.
What keeps many of them here is the kindness and acceptance they found - from the Kurdish poet who discovered his voice in Folkestone, to the Eritrean student who found a second chance through the love of her Faversham foster family.