Comment LONDON — British police said on Saturday that evidence revealed “a far-right motive” behind an attack last week on an immigration center on the English coast, describing it as a “terrorist incident.” A 66-year-old man threw at least two petrol bombs against the walls of a migrant center on October 30 near the port of Dover, the arrival point for many attempting the perilous journey to Britain across the Channel in small boats. The attacker was later found dead. Authorities identified him as Andrew Leak. British counter-terrorism police said they found evidence that the man who drove up alone in a car and threw “a number of crude incendiary devices” outside was “motivated by a terrorist ideology”. While the agency said the investigation was ongoing, it added there was no indication he had accomplices. Saturday’s statement said investigators spoke with witnesses and recovered items, including digital devices. “An examination of this evidence suggests that there was a far-right motive behind the attack,” it said, without elaborating on the evidence. Two people were slightly injured and around 700 migrants had to be taken to Manston in south-east England, where another migrant center came under fresh scrutiny this week. Girl’s message in a bottle sparks outrage over UK asylum conditions A girl’s cry for help, thrown from the overcrowded center in Manston, has become the latest flashpoint in Britain’s heated debate over immigration policies. “Please help us,” the letter read. The British government has tried to crack down on arrivals and smugglers who bring people seeking refuge in containers or flimsy rafts across the Channel from France, a route that has proved deadly at times. But officials have faced criticism for policies including trying to deport people to Rwanda to pursue their asylum claims. Since the 2016 Brexit vote to leave the European Union, Britons’ concerns about the economy have pushed immigration up the list of pressing issues facing the country. But this year, the number of people detained crossing the channel has increased and the handling of channel crossings has fueled post-Brexit friction between France and Britain. In the recent attack near Dover, a police official said the suspect was “likely to be driven by some form of hate-filled grievance”. British advocacy group Hope Not Hate said it had saved now-deleted social media posts in which the attacker espoused violent, anti-immigrant sentiments, including saying he hoped to “wipe out Muslim children”. “While there is strong evidence that mental health was likely a factor, I am satisfied that the suspect’s actions were driven primarily by extremist ideology,” Tim Jacques, senior national co-ordinator for Counter-Terrorism Policing, said on Saturday. In July, UK intelligence chief Ken McCallum said that investigations involving people with racist, neo-Nazi or related ideological motivations accounted for around 20% of the terror caseload, adding that many of them were young people. Karla Adam contributed to this report.
