This week, on the beach leading to the English Channel in the French city of Gravelines, a "battle" between police and illegal immigrants caught the attention of the media.
In order to prevent these refugees, mainly from Vietnam and Sudan, from escaping into the UK, the French police resorted to some drastic tactics, including the use of tear gas, as well as the use of knives to cut through the hull of their ships.
(Police cut the rubber boat with a knife)
But the police eventually failed, and they had just destroyed the first boat, and only 15 minutes later the second boat appeared and picked up hundreds of stowaways. They waved mockingly at the police and turned around to set off on their journey to the UK......
(Police use of tear gas)
Among the stowaways, a 17-year-old boy, Abdul Usman, caught the attention of journalists.
(Abdul Usman)
Abdul, who is from Sudan, said he had tried 100 times to cross the English Channel by boat from France to get to the UK. And the reason why he insisted so much was to find his mother.
In Loon-Plage, near Dunkirk, there is a makeshift refugee camp of more than 1,000 tents, where most stowaways live before fleeing to Britain.
It's not safe, violence is rampant, there have even been shootouts at night for turf, death is not new, but there are people who are willing to risk their lives to get to the UK.
Abdul is one of them, and he has been living there for more than seven months in search of his mother. He said that he would never give up, and would work hard every day to go to the UK, even if he was attacked by bad guys and stopped by the police.
When asked why he insisted so much, he pointed to the sea and said, "That's my path to freedom." He said his mother lived in England and nothing could stop him.
Now, it seems, Abdul has finally taken the first step as he wished.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, he had already boarded the second boat and sailed from the beach to the English Channel.
(Circled in red is Abdul Usman)
But that doesn't mean he's going to succeed.
While navigating the treacherous English Channel, the hull of a ship could capsize at any time and cause death, but even if he succeeds in reaching the UK, another hurdle awaits him – the Rwanda Security (Asylum and Immigration) Act.
The bill was introduced during Boris's administration to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the UK, and the main purpose is to transfer these illegal immigrants to the African country of Rwanda and provide them with corresponding funds to start a new life in Rwanda.
This bill has been controversial, but it was passed in the British House of Lords on the 22nd of this month local time. The next step is to wait for Charles's approval and official enshrinement in national law.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the government had booked the planes and that the bill should start transporting the first batch of illegal immigrants to Rwanda as soon as it was signed.
In fact, he was warned of this before he set off, but he still resolutely sailed to England: "I don't want to be sent to Rwanda, but I'm not afraid to go there." ”
I wonder if this determination will help him find his mother......