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IMMIGRATION

France rescues 22 migrants heading for Britain

French rescuers saved 22 migrants who found themselves "in difficulty" on the Channel overnight in their bid to get to Britain, French maritime authorities said Sunday.

Published: 25 August 2019 18:56 CEST
France rescues 22 migrants heading for Britain
A file photo of the Channel off Dover. Photo: AFP

“A semi-rigid vessel with 22 migrants”, including a woman and a child, was found to be “in difficulty” off the coast of Dunkirk, a statement said.

The migrants were brought back to Dunkirk, it added.

On the night from Thursday to Friday, 24 migrants were rescued in the Channel.

British interior minister Priti Patel is set to discuss this issue soon with her French counterpart Christophe Castaner following a spike in migrant Channel crossings. 

The crossings are particularly dangerous given the heavy maritime traffic on the Channel as well as strong currents and icy temperatures.

Britain currently has three Border Force cutters in the Channel.

Since January, the country has returned to Europe more than 65 people who arrived illegally in small boats, the interior ministry said.

READ ALSO: Channel migrant crossings in sharp decline: France

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CRIME

Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Germany said Tuesday it was considering allowing deportations to Afghanistan, after an asylum seeker from the country injured five and killed a police officer in a knife attack.

Published: 4 June 2024 14:50 CEST
Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Officials had been carrying out an “intensive review for several months… to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists.

“It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly,” Faeser said.

“That is why we are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people to both Syria and Afghanistan,” she said.

Deportations to Afghanistan from Germany have been completely stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.

But a debate over resuming expulsions has resurged after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim on Friday.

A police officer, 29, died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.

Five people taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were also wounded.

Friday’s brutal attack has inflamed a public debate over immigration in the run up to European elections and prompted calls to expand efforts to expel criminals.

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

The suspect, named in the media as Sulaiman Ataee, came to Germany as a refugee in March 2013, according to reports.

Ataee, who arrived in the country with his brother at the age of only 14, was initially refused asylum but was not deported because of his age, according to German daily Bild.

Ataee subsequently went to school in Germany, and married a German woman of Turkish origin in 2019, with whom he has two children, according to the Spiegel weekly.

Per the reports, Ataee was not seen by authorities as a risk and did not appear to neighbours at his home in Heppenheim as an extremist.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday took over the investigation into the incident, as they looked to establish a motive.

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