the only real difference

According to the lunchtime news on tv, the poor chap who drowned was actually 28 and not 16.I would think the man with him is a similar age too.
Any drowning is awful of course.

I do not read the Daily Mail - and read some of the disgusting comments published on line - these comments were real- so I shall not apologise for being disgusted by them

So, he was a bit older - does it make any difference. He left his war torn country in 2014 - when he was still a teenager- and has tried to survive best he could for the past 6 years.

And no, he was not safe in France:

''Hamdallah, who was also known as Wajdi, is understood to have had his claim for asylum in France refused recently, and decided to risk the dangerous journey across the strait of Dover for a better life than the “horror” he used to live in, said sources including family members.''

I do not read the Daily Mail - and read some of the disgusting comments published on line - these comments were real- so I shall not apologise for being disgusted by them

But you must have done?

Hearsay is never acceptable in court or when trying to make a serious point.

I wonder why his claim for asylum in France was denied?

I was just going to ask the same question Chewbacca.
❓

And why did he pretend to be 16 y?
Actually photographs of him show he looked nothing like a mid-teen.

Urmstongran

And why did he pretend to be 16 y?
Actually photographs of him show he looked nothing like a mid-teen.

I don't think he did pretend to be 16. That's what the guy who was in the boat with him told the authorities.

It's irrelevant why France turned him down. He was still entitled to try for asylum in the UK.

I am very upset about babies and children losing their lives in Syria and the Yemen.
Poor little loves, they have no chance.

I feel sorry for a young man who has lost his life in this way but he knew what he was doing, unlike the mites I see on my FB page each day.

Hearsay is never acceptable in court or when trying to make a serious point.

It wasn't hearsay. I didn't read the DM either but I saw some of the comments as they were screenshotted and published on twitter. they weren't very nice...

Some people really try to wriggle out of accepting the truth, don't they...

It's irrelevant why France turned him down

My apologies for annoying you with my question MaizieD, I was just wondering why France would turn down any application for asylum, I wasn't intending to infer that he wasn't eligible to apply elsewhere.

No.
They are comments by people online which are unacceptable but then, anyone can post anything online can't they.

Some people really try to wriggle out of accepting the truth, don't they...

Do you mean the OP?

There are some not very nice posts on GN too!

They were comments by Daily Mail readers which were screen shot and published on Twitter and FB - not hearsay. Even if they were in the minority- they were very real - not hearsay.

We don't know why he was turned down - but it is a fact that he was not safe in France, and that he had little choice but to try and reach what he considered 'safer' - after leaving home and living in terrible conditions since 2014.

Unfortunately the OP chose to believe comments she’d heard about in the gutter press without waiting/checking elsewhere and has now ended up with egg on her face. Source, check, source and check.....

Why wasn’t he safe in France? It seems a fine country.

Urmstongran I think it has been explained many, many times why some asylum seekers are not safe in France.

This young man may have fled horrors in his home country and I don't know why he did not feel safe in France.
However, if he was in fact 28 and not 16 as reported, then what he did have was some choice and the ability to decide for himself what to do to try to reach safety although this ended in tragedy.

Babies and children do not have any choice. That is truly heartbreaking.
Please, if you can, donate to a charity of your choice to help them.

Most of us could never imagine the terrible circumstances that have bought these people to Calais - how would we cope if such things happened to us? It's beyond sad.

OK, I looked it up for myself and found this:

France has a long tradition of offering asylum to foreign refugees, and the right of asylum has constitutional value under French law. French asylum law is heavily based on international
and European law, but is largely codified in the Code de l’entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d’asile (CESEDA, Code of Entry and Residence of Foreigners and of the Right of Asylum).

There are two types of asylum protection in France: refugee protection and subsidiary protection. Asylum essentially rests on the serious possibility that the asylum seeker could be the victim of persecution or harm in his/her country of origin. Asylum may be denied or revoked for individuals who have committed crimes or whose presence would be a threat to society or national security.

Source is Library of Congress Law

Check out Yemen
Syria
Little children shot by snipers in the street.

I think a lot of people are critical about these asylum seekers/migrants because they are almost all men,
Where are the women?

France itself has never complied with its obligations regarding the reception of asylum seekers and, for many years, has preferred to mistreat them, thinking that people will leave and spread the message that France is not welcoming.
Despite the measures taken by the authorities to put an end to refugee camps, they do not disappear but move and split up, gathering just a few dozen people, or a few hundred in some cities.

In the Paris region, it still takes months before one can begin an asylum procedure. What is
new is that the queue has become invisible since the establishment of a telephone number, difficult to get through to, to get an appointment at the first reception center.

As for the refugees evacuated from previous camps, a good portion of them end up in centers scattered all over the country lacking not only the means and personnel competent in asylum cases, but which—more importantly—are used to “shelter” these people while organizing their deportation, whether asylum seekers whose requests were refused—still very numerous —or people waiting for a Dublin transfer (more than 40 000 in 2017 or more than one third of all asylum applications in France).

Just been watching footage of the little girl in Yemen who was shot by a sniper and dragged to safety by her ten year old brother.

Yemeni children are in a desperate situation

Chewbacca

^It's irrelevant why France turned him down^

My apologies for annoying you with my question MaizieD, I was just wondering why France would turn down any application for asylum, I wasn't intending to infer that he wasn't eligible to apply elsewhere.

My apologies for annoying you with my response, Chewbacca. There is just so much anti - refugee feeling on these threads that the urge to jump in to defend is quite strong..

Unfortunately the OP chose to believe comments she’d heard about in the gutter press without waiting/checking elsewhere and has now ended up with egg on her face. Source, check, source and check.....

No egg, Pantglas. The horrible comments were very real, just BTL, not in the actual article.

he DM could have moderated them off had they chosen to.