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Protests against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers took place across the UK, with demonstrators gathering in cities such as Bristol, Liverpool, and London, as well as in Mold, Perth, and County Antrim. In many areas, police intervened to keep rival groups apart as anti-racism campaigners staged counter-demonstrations. The unrest follows a High Court ruling earlier this week that blocked plans to use a hotel in Epping, Essex, for asylum accommodation, prompting several local authorities in England to consider launching their own legal challenges. Former British Minister of European Affairs, Denis MacShane, speaks to France24 for further explanations.
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00:00Now, as you heard in that report, some critics claim the majority of asylum seekers are young men, and that's not a surprise nor a concern, according to Dennis McShane, the former British Minister of European Affairs. Take a listen.
00:14Yes, I mean, obviously, it tends to be men, younger men in particular, who are just dead. Imagine you're in Somalia. Imagine you're in Sudan. Imagine you're a Palestinian in Gaza.
00:25Of course, if you're a young man, you want to get the heck out of there and into a country where at least you won't be killed.
00:32So they are young men. They're not coming on ride out charter planes comfortably, easy jet to find asylum somewhere else.
00:43But once they're here, they have to be dealt with. They'll be dealt with very, very, very slowly.
00:48And this is, you know, let's be honest, been happening in France, in every country now.
00:54Italy, Mrs. Maloney's trying to open asylum, the Prime Minister of Italy, asylum detention camps in Albania.
01:01Not sure if that's going to work. Greece is having to be very harsh because the Libyans sent about, Libyan government authorities sent about 7,000 Libyans to Crete,
01:12literally just to put pressure on Greece to accept them.
01:16They're all being kept there. Many of them will be deported.
01:19I'm afraid the mood in Europe is changing because so many criminals are now involved in the asylum seeker transportation business.
01:31And those really need to be dealt with, I think, much more severely than perhaps we've had the habit of doing.

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