Who are these people and why are they here?

Wherever there is a crisis, there will be rumours, - and when there are rumours, you never know which to believe and which to dismiss. When you combine inaccurate information from one side and unrealistic expectations from the other side, you create a formula for discontent that reaches all the way from mild irritation at the incompetence of bureaucracy to angry revolution in the face of brutal injustice.
It's like that all over Europe, at the moment, and especially in Greece and Italy where the relief and celebration of escape and arrival, is soon met with utter frustration at the lack of any clear way forward. Such is the lot of the refugee.

Meanwhile, British and world media are full of other rumours and misrepresentations and, worst of all, the guilt of omission, when some news never reaches the media. That's why my Facebook posts contain a lot of reports from individual volunteers, refugee support organisations and  alternative media. I hope that this gives a fuller picture. And pictures are often so much more emotive than dry text.
Despatching from the camps at Idomeni on the Greek/Bulgarian border, Médecins sans Frontières reported:

• The situation was extremely tense this morning, when tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades were used in the camp to disperse crowds. The MSF teams treated 300 people, among them 200 with respiratory problems after being subjected to tear gas.

Although the Bulgarian authorities claimed that rubber bullets were not used, these children in Idomeni collected both tear-gas canisters and rubber bullets after the disturbances.




While most of the reporting is highly critical of these events, I was shocked to read one commentator who insisted that use of "reasonable force" by the authorities was perfectly justifiable in the face of the invasion of their territory by an angry mob. 

And, of course, the attitude of Northern Europe is very much that their countries are being invaded by an angry mob with an alien culture that will destroy the traditional lifestyle of each and every nation across the continent. The reality is that all European nations have been through a process of migration and change, not just in the distant past, but equally in the past hundred years. A third of British babies this year will be "non-white," and while the separate races still have strong individual identities, the percentage of "mixed-race" babies is growing year on year - and I believe that our society is greatly enriched by this trend. 

So, who are the million-plus invaders who crossed the Mediterranean into mainland Europe last year, and who continue to arrive, even though there is no WELCOME mat on the door?  - and are they really refugees? 
According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), 80% of migrants arriving in Greece and Italy in the past three months are from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq: three countries largely destroyed by wars that were instigated by America and supported by various Western nations.

The reality of Aleppo, Syria, today

I think "refugee" is an appropriate description. for anyone fleeing a scene like this, or this:-

The remains of the village of Ebla, Syria

Since January 2016, 55% of all refugees arriving are women and children. If you see more men in video news, it's mainly because the women traditionally keep in the background.

Two queues for our food distribution, women to the left, men to the right

55% of refugees are women and children

As for the group of us  -  we just keep the food coming. . . 

. . . and they keep coming for the food.

Please support the project - we now expect to be serving over 1,000 meals daily and we need to increase our funds for the ingredients that will keep us cooking. We would welcome your donations here:-

https://www.gofundme.com/kingofsamosport