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Reactions as RAF sends plane to patrol Channel for migrants

"The RAF is combing the English Channel; presumably they’re fully loaded with Nigel Farages ready to drop on any unsuspecting dinghies."

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
2020-08-10 15:23
in News
A view of a Royal Air Force Atlas A400M aeroplane in the skies above Dover in Kent which has provided aerial surveillance as part of an "initial offer of assistance" from the Ministry of Defence to the Home Office in response to the continued migrant crossings.Credit;PA

A view of a Royal Air Force Atlas A400M aeroplane in the skies above Dover in Kent which has provided aerial surveillance as part of an "initial offer of assistance" from the Ministry of Defence to the Home Office in response to the continued migrant crossings.Credit;PA

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The Royal Air Force (RAF) has dispatched a surveillance plane to survey the Channel following further migrant crossings.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on Twitter on Monday that the Atlas aircraft had been flown from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to support Border Force operations in the Channel.

The flight was authorised by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, it added.

A @RoyalAirForce Atlas aircraft has been flown from @RAFBrizeNorton this morning to support Border Force operations in the Channel. Authorised by the Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP, the surveillance aircraft is an initial offer of assistance as @DefenceHQ supports @ukhomeoffice.

— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) August 10, 2020

While the aerial surveillance using the Atlas plane was part of an “initial offer of assistance” from the MoD to the Home Office, the purpose of the flight is unclear.

The MoD said: “A Royal Air Force Atlas aircraft has been flown from RAF Brize Norton this morning to support Border Force operations in the Channel.

“Authorised by the Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP (Ben Wallace), the surveillance aircraft is an initial offer of assistance as Defence HQ supports UK Home Office.”

Migrant Channel crossing incidents
A Royal Air Force Atlas A400M aeroplane in the skies above Dover in Kent (Gareth Fuller/PA Images)

The huge grey Atlas cargo plane was seen circling low above the English Channel on Monday morning.

Several passes

The rotor-powered aircraft made several passes above the water, sharing the skies with HM Coastguard’s plane.

According to the website Flight Radar 24 the Atlas A400M left RAF Brize Norton at around 7.10am on Monday and has been flying over the Channel between Dover and Calais since.

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The flight comes as efforts to address the crisis intensified on Monday as more crossings continued in the early hours of the morning, with an inflatable dinghy thought to be carrying more than 20 Syrians met by a Border Force patrol boat off the coast of Dover in Kent.

The Home Office has officially asked the Navy for help, and a former Royal Marine has been appointed to head up an operation to tackle the problem.

Social media reacted to this new tactic

1.

Completely nuts.
Unable to do wall rhetoric, and loooking for some distractions from the absolute disaster of the UK’s Covid response perhaps? The UK has been flying a €150m RAF cargo plane up and down The Channel at 300m for the last 7 hours.
To do what? Scare people away?
FFS pic.twitter.com/83XBzRDzdo

— Richard Battye (@RichardBattye) August 10, 2020

2.

Great use of RAF resources, seriously?? FFS, I’m so ashamed to be stuck on this bloody xenophobic island. pic.twitter.com/lED2mMwCIT

— ⚫️ Visibly angry Invisi-Jojo 🐝 🇪🇺 3.5% (@eu_lover) August 10, 2020

3.

The RAF is combing the English Channel; presumably they’re fully loaded with Nigel Farages ready to drop on any unsuspecting dinghies. pic.twitter.com/dpyhc08SiF

— David Hemingway (@HemingwayDM) August 10, 2020

4.

So not illegal to sail across, not illegal to claim asylum. Cost of RAF policing non illegal activity? Cost in emissions of RAF patrolling? Knee jerk reaction at its peak! https://t.co/26fzjr96Bd

— Non Domestic Goddess #FBPE💙 #FBPPR (@destinyschild05) August 10, 2020

5.

I saw this being shared on Twitter and had to double check to see if it's actually true, but a huge RAF Atlas transport aircraft has spent the day flying across the channel crossing at low altitude, seemingly to scare off migrants. https://t.co/5iIWk6kCAn pic.twitter.com/1TrqTwGhoP

— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) August 10, 2020

6.

We can apparently put the RAF over the Channel today to needlessly spot dinghies but have only allocated £5 million for emergency relief for Beirut. In terms of humitarian crisis management haven’t we got almost everything wrong?

— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) August 10, 2020

7.

Conservatives sending the might of Navy & RAF to stop this "maritime incursion".

Read that again!

"MARITIME INCURSION"!.

We are talking about a couple of hundred refugees in RUBBER dinghys, full of women, children & men.
This is not an invasion from enemies!

FFS!!!!

— Kerry ♀️ 🇳🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺 (@Rozkez67) August 10, 2020

Related – Johnson: Migrants crossing the Channel “very bad and stupid”

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