The words are chosen. British police have described the attack with incendiary devices on a migrant reception center in Dover in the south of England last Sunday as a “terrorist act” this Saturday. “Having reviewed the evidence collected so far, and while strong evidence indicates that (the suspect’s) mental health is certainly a factor, I am satisfied that the suspect’s actions were primarily motivated by ideological extremism, which corresponds to the definition of a terrorist act, ”said Tim Jacques, senior British counter-terrorism police officer, quoted in a press release.
Last Sunday around 12:20 p.m., several incendiary devices were thrown at a migrant reception center in Dover. The suspect had arrived alone by car before launching the devices. Two officers were slightly injured and 700 migrants had to be temporarily escorted to another site.
“A far-right motivation”
The suspect, Andrew Leak, a 66-year-old man living in High Wycombe, north-west London, was found dead in his car shortly after the attack. According to the British press, he would have ended his life, which the authorities have not yet officially confirmed.
The elements of the investigation collected so far “suggest that there was an extreme right motivation behind this attack”, explains the anti-terrorist police in its press release. “There is currently nothing to suggest that the man involved has worked with other people and nothing to suggest the existence of a broader threat at this time,” police said.
The attack comes as the UK records a record number of migrant arrivals on the country’s southern coasts in small boats, with nearly 40,000 having already made the perilous Channel crossing since the start of the year, far more than for the whole of 2021.