Britain’s “compassionate majority” appeared to find its voice on Thursday as many thousands of people took to social media, signed petitions, and made offers of support to refugees affected by the current migration crisis.
While British politicians have been lamented for appearing to heed domestic political concerns rather than focusing on the human suffering created by the crisis, support for refugees has become noticeably more vocal in the past few days.
The photographs of tragic Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi have helped to spur a sense of action, and brought about a distinct change in tone to coverage of the crisis from the press.
Several hashtags grouped together messages, including #RefugeesWelcome and #RefugeeCrisis, while Hungary trended all day.
People are openly asking how they might do their bit to help – and taking to social media to express their dismay at politicians’ response to the crisis, sign petitions, and even make offers of support themselves.
Not all politicians have stayed silent
Other images took a different view of the statistics
FC Bayern was applauded for its efforts in setting up a camp for refugees
And there have been so many personal offers of help and messages of support