Fear That (Illegal) Immigrants Will Hijack G8 Armada (UK)

Bob Geldof's plan to ferry 10,000 French G8 protesters Dunkirk-style to Britain is causing alarm among immigration officers, who warned yesterday that the proposed armada could be "hijacked" by illegal immigrants.

John Tincey, national vice chairman of the Immigration Service Union, said that "hundreds, if not thousands" of people were camping out on the other side of the Channel "just looking for an opportunity to get to the UK."

He said: "There are lots of people there keen to jump on board, and I fear there might be total chaos. I think Bob should have a lie down. He has no conception of what could go wrong."

Geldof's plan is that on July 3 - the day after the Live 8 concert in Paris - marchers would make their way to ports in Normandy where UK boats would take them to Portsmouth and Southampton en route to Edinburgh.

Geldof laughed at suggestions that illegal immigrants might gatecrash the event and stream over to Britain.

He said: "If they did it would look like the whole planet was coming over. But to be honest it's such an unlikely thing that there will be hundreds of Albanians queuing."

However, Mr Tincey predicted that the UK would be "swamped" with problems, as the day of the flotilla was "our busiest time of the week."

He said that British boat owners would have to be careful in ensuring that all their French passengers had the "proper documentation and visas" as "facilitating" an illegal entry to the UK was "a serious crime with a long prison sentence".

In particular, they had to beware of being "knobbled" by immigrants and "finding their boats have been hijacked". Geldof insisted that he was working with the Marine Coastguard Agency and lifeboat organisations to ensure the safety of sailors.

• The start of the G8 summit will be marked by a free concert in Edinburgh attended by 62,000 people.

Announcing details of the event, Midge Ure, the former Ultravox singer, played down a rallying call made last week by Geldof in which he encouraged up to a million people to descend on the city.

Can we hire this guy for our own borders?

2 posted on 06/07/2005 5:44:41 PM PDT by thoughtomator (The U.S. Constitution poses no serious threat to our form of government)

these G8 parties are nothing but a freak magnet... is it soooo hard to figure out that they shouldn't tell where they will be held until they are OVER???

It's just another opportunity for the general malcontents to gather and lie to each other while listening to music that was just as horrible when it came out as it is today.

I remember hearing something about Pink Floyd getting back together, but I hope it isn't for this farce of a supposed benefit concert.

4 posted on 06/07/2005 6:03:13 PM PDT by perfect stranger (I need new glasses.)

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