Nigel Farage took just hours to start spouting spurious claims about refugees crossing the Channel.
The former UKIPer said every single person that makes treacherous crossing will now claim to be without ID after the defence secretary announced the UK will waive border rules to allow Afghan asylum seekers to escape the Taliban.
Tweeting a Telegraph article Farage said the decision will have “enormous consequences” because everyone who crosses the Channel will claim to from Afghanistan.
The fearmongering was soon squashed by Tony Diver, who authored the original article.
Worth noting (since I wrote this) that Afghans without passports will only be allowed into the UK *if they were previously known to officials* https://t.co/kdpK2Frr8X
— Tony Diver (@Tony_Diver) August 16, 2021
But that didn’t stop him from making the claims on GBNews shortly after, or them being shared by his former party UKIP, much to the disgust of social media users.
Didn't take Farage long to start fearmongering about Afghan refugees. pic.twitter.com/IHOFd6pZE7
— Haggis_UK ?? ?? (@Haggis_UK) August 16, 2021
Imagine posting this about desperate Afghan refugees during a human catastrophe in which, yet again, Britain played a role in creating.
— Nadine Batchelor-Hunt (@nadinebh_) August 16, 2021
Scum. pic.twitter.com/RTcJpvTEq5
Earlier today crowds of Afghan civilians were filmed chasing plans down the runway at Kabul airport – with some appearing to cling to the wheels of a US military plane.
In distressing footage, video showed stowaways falling to their deaths from a plane as it departed the Afghan capital.
As videos circulated online of Taliban militants inside the Presidential Palace following a week-long rapid offensive across Afghanistan, scores of Afghans crowded the tarmac at Hamid Karzai International Airport to try and escape the country.
At least three people were killed at Kabul airport, Reuters reported, as Afghans tried to flee the country before the Taliban establishes a government.
Video: People run on tarmac of Kabul international airport as a US military aircraft attempts to take off. pic.twitter.com/9qA36HS0WQ
— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) August 16, 2021
Related: Women in Afghanistan speak of fear after Taliban takes over Kabul