UK: Hundreds of refugees’ lifejackets ‘wash up’ on the Thames in charity action

Around 300 lifejackets were placed on the banks of the River Thames by the charities UK Action Aid and Islamic Relief to draw attention to the ongoing refugee crisis, in London, Thursday. The charities hope to raise awareness of the number of people who have been forced to flee war-torn countries and make dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean in search of safety in Europe.
"Each one of these lifejackets represents many thousands of people who have fled, many thousands of people living in fear, many thousands of people we should be standing alongside and supporting," head of aid and humanitarian response at UK Action Aid, Mike Noyes, said.
Senior media officer at UK Action Aid, Cora Bauer, continued, the UK has been very big donor in the refugee crisis but in terms of actually opening its borders, in terms of welcoming people. Nothing compared to countries like Germany and 20,000 is what the UK government committed to – so far I think it’s only been about 2,000 which is just nothing, really."
The action beside Vauxhall Beach comes two days ahead of the Refugees Welcome March in the capital which Action Aid has helped to organise.