LONDON — British police say one person was injured when gasoline bombs were thrown Sunday at an immigration center in the English port town of Dover.
The Kent Police force said “two to three incendiary devices” were thrown at the facility, and “one minor injury has been reported.” The Kent Fire and Rescue Service said its crews had put out fires at the site.
A news photographer at the scene said a man drove up and threw three gas bombs at the facility before driving to a nearby gas station and killing himself. Police said only that “the suspect has been identified and located.”
Dover is the arrival point for many migrants who cross the English Channel from France in small boats. The number of people making the hazardous journey across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes has risen sharply in recent years, with 40,000 reaching the U.K. so far this year, up from 28,000 in all of 2021 and 8,500 in 2020.
Dozens have died, including 27 people in November 2021 when a packed smuggling boat capsized.
Britain and France have wrangled over how to stop the people-smuggling gangs that organize the journeys.
Britain’s Conservative government has announced a controversial plan to send people who arrive in small boats on a one-way journey to Rwanda. Critics say the plan is immoral and impractical, and it is being challenged in the courts.
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