Parents complain on social media about how groups of immigrants follow and harass young schoolgirls.

An increasing number of parents take to social media to voice their fear for the safety of their children, saying that groups of adult asylum seekers follow and harass young girls in Cornwall, UK.

At the weekend a post on social media went viral following an incident in Penzance.

A local mum shared a photo of four men near the town centre and said: „These four delightful men have been following my 11-year-old daughter and her friends around Penzance taking photos of them.”

„They tried to get on the same bus as the girls but luckily the bus drove off. I am reporting it to the police. Share away please to keep our youngsters safe,” the worried mother wrote in her post.

This was not the only incident that day when the gang followed and harassed young girls on the street, as it later turned out. A local media outlet has since contacted the police about the matter and a force spokesman has said that the men were given strong words of advice about their behaviour and that they were apologetic for their actions.

Similar concerns were shared in the Cornish town of Newquay on Tuesday, where a father complained to the local Newquay Leisure World centre about how his daughter had been harassed by a group of male immigrants. When his daughter brought the incident to the attention of the staff at the leisure centre, she was told „there was nothing they can do”, as the men are refugees and have their memberships subsidised by the government. A woman, „a recent victim of crime” shared a post on the leisure centre’s social media page, advising that the police, not the leisure centre should be contacted when such incidents take place.

 

Like in much of the United Kingdom, hotels in Cornwall have been booked up by the Home Office to accommodate the record number of asylum seekers who entered the country via boats across the English Channel last year.

Many local business owners have expressed their concern about the potential decline in tourism as a result of hotel accommodation being occupied by asylum seekers. This is a major concern because the region relies on this sector for much of the year.

In November, local Conservative MP Steve Double sought assurances from the Home Office that no Cornish hotels would be used to accommodate asylum seekers „beyond the end of winter so as to not impact on our important tourist season”.

„Firstly, I have made it clear that we expect the Home Office to process applications as quickly as possible to ensure those who are genuine refugees get the support they need and are able to move on to the next stage of their lives in the UK. Equally it is important that the Home Office identify those who are not refugees and that these people are repatriated to their own countries,”

the politician informed the locals in a statement.

As previously reported by V4NA, a Conservative MP said that homeless people were recently removed from a hotel in a town to make way for 34 asylum seekers. Leaked data revealed that UK taxpayers are forking out on £125-a-night rooms for Channel migrants in three-star or even four-star hotels, The Sun reported.

At the time, Home Office sources insisted that hotels were used only as a last resort. A spokesman said: “Due to an unprecedented rise in demand, we have had to use temporary accommodation such as hotels across the UK to manage demands. We are working to end the use of hotels in the asylum estate.”

The massive influx of migrants is a huge challenge for the UK, with the asylum system costing the government 2.1 billion pounds (nearly 2.5 billion euros) a year. The cost of asylum has exceeded 2 billion pounds for the first time, with Home office spending on asylum rising by 56 per cent in a year.