The fire broke out Friday at the Napier barracks, a dismantled military complex that now houses asylum seekers and has been at the center of a recent row between Interior Minister Priti Patel and refugee charities. who have asked him to close the facility.
Charities have claimed that an estimated 400 asylum seekers at the facility have lived in poor conditions in overcrowded dormitories and that a recent outbreak of Covid-19 has infected at least 120 people, PA Media reported.
Kent police said Saturday that investigations into the incident were continuing and that “no serious injuries were reported as a result of the incident, but a significant amount of damage was caused to a part of the site after a fire, which is believed to have been deliberately started “.
On Friday, the interior secretary took to Twitter to condemn the “shocking scenes” of the Napier barracks, where the Interior Ministry said the windows were broken and a building caught fire.
“The damage and destruction at the Napier barracks is not only horrific, but it is deeply offensive to taxpayers in this country who offer accommodation while asylum applications are being processed,” Patel posted in a tweet.
“This place had already hosted our brave soldiers and army personnel; it is an insult to say that it is not good enough for these people,” he added.
Patel’s comments provoked some criticism, as the founder of a charity for refugees said the Home Secretary “should be ashamed of herself” for pointing out applicants so quickly. asylum.
“It is shocking and disturbing for a British Home Secretary to accuse and punish ordinary people when the facts of this incident are not yet known,” Clare Mosley, founder of the charity Care4Calais, said in a statement sent to CNN .
“It’s not just a sloppy, simple emotional response. It’s an opportunistic, misleading smoke screen designed to divert attention from the multiple warnings it has had about what would clearly happen at Napier’s barracks,” Mosley added. .
Care4Calais, in a Facebook post on Friday, told Napier residents they had spoken to “tell us they’re just terrified.”
“Their future remains uncertain and today’s events generate more distress and fear,” he added.