HUNDREDS of people have signed a petition calling for Furness to become a place of sanctuary and help some of the thousands of refugees fleeing the war-torn Middle East.

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When the Evening Mail went to print, almost 800 people had signed the Furness Welcomes Syrian Refugees petition on change.org, which is calling for Barrow Borough Council and South Lakeland District Council to play its part in the international relief programme.

While governments in Europe remain at odds over what to do about the numbers of refugees fleeing their homelands, people in south Cumbria are calling for the area to open its arms to those in desperate need.

Christian Barnes, a tutor at Barrow Sixth Form College, started the online petition at 9pm on Wednesday and has been amazed by the rush of support.

He said: “It’s been amazing. Every time I click back even after a minute or two it’s gone up by a few more. It just keeps building.

“I think it’s the right thing to do, it’s common humanity.

“Financial issues seem to dominate in our society – if there’s not a profit to be had then we don’t think about it. Sometimes you have to look beyond that even in times of austerity.

“If every town or area or council take just a few families it would make a big difference.

“During the Kosovar crisis refugees were taken in here and it was seen as a thing of pride.”

Thousands of refugees have taken long journeys to Europe from countries such as Syria, Iraq and Libya to escape war and genocide in the biggest migration since the end of the Second World War.

Thousands have drowned in the Mediterranean during their desperate attempts to reach the EU.

There has been a huge outpouring of grief and anger, following the publication of a photo showing a three-year-old Syrian boy in the arms of a Turkish policeman after his body washed up on a beach near Bodrum in Turkey.

Britain has been accused of not taking in enough asylum seekers during the crisis, with criticism made against the government’s stance by countries like Germany.

Joan Capp, who at the age of 83 continues to run Bootle Refugee Aid, said the government needed to do more to save lives.

She said: “The situation is awful. I believe we should do more. I think we should be doing what Germany is saying. At some point there would have to be a limit but we are not at that limit by any means right now.”

The Furness Welcomes Syrian Refugees petition is calling on the area’s two councils to make an application to the Home Office’s Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme and host a small number of Syrian refugee families.

The petition can be found at  http://tinyurl.com/ok5nksp