Echoes of Australia's 'boat people' crisis as Britain's sea border breached
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Similarly, the number now crossing the Channel may not be large, but it has outsized psychological and political resonance, McNeil said.
“The sheer spectacle of people arriving on boats evokes this larger concept of a migrant crisis, after all the images we’ve seen from the Mediterranean,” he said. “It also strikes at something fundamentally British, which is this idea that Britain is defended by its sea borders.”
Most of the migrants are from Iran, Syria or neighbouring countries. In recent years, more asylum applicants in Britain have come from Iran than any other country.
Migration experts speculated that many of the migrants could be ethnic Kurds, who face oppression in several countries, and that renewed US sanctions on Iran could be fuelling an exodus.
The oddest wrinkle to the story may originate far from Britain or the Middle East. In August 2017, Serbia’s government began allowing Iranian citizens to travel to Serbia without visas.
Article source: https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/syria-strikes-keep-home-fires-burning-for-uk-s-may-and-france-s-macron-20180415-p4z9p0.html?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_world
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