Rabat – Spanish congressman and President of VOX, Santiago Abascal, said that Europe must “defend” its borders against “invasions” from Muslim refugees, in a session in Spain’s Congress today.
The politician said Ukrainian refugees must be welcomed by other European countries, differentiating them from Muslim refugees fleeing conflict zones.
“These women, children, and the elderly, should be welcomed in Europe,” Abascal said in reference to people fleeing Ukraine.
“Anyone can now understand perfectly well what the difference is between these flows of refugees now and the invasions of young men of military age of Muslim origin that have launched against different borders of Europe in an attempt to destabilize and to colonize it,” he said during a session of Congress.
Abascal’s statements aren’t the first such comments, following European countries’ welcoming of Ukrainian refugees.
Bulgaria has been similarly welcoming to Ukrainian refugees, despite being previously hesitant to welcome people from the Middle East.
“These are not the refugees we are used to… these people are Europeans,” said Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, justifying the decision. “These people are intelligent, they are educated people.”
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The racism, xenophobia and unapologetic Islamophobia imbued in European refugee policies has been a topic of contention in the midst of the Ukraine war.
Some reports go as far as to detail border guards preventing African and Indian students from crossing borders to get to safety, with authorities only allowing Ukrainians passage.
The latest numbers from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) indicate that more than a million people have fled Ukraine since the start of Russia’s military operations there.
More than half of those refugees have fled to Poland, as of March 2.
Close to 4,000 Moroccans have fled the conflict zone as of March 2, with repatriation flights back to Morocco being organized at a price of MAD 750 ($78).
