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British PM pledges to take in thousands more refugees

Xinhua, September 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday promised to take in "thousands more" Syrian refugees, saying his country had a "moral duty" to help amid the humanitarian crisis.

Cameron said he would not participate in the European Union's redistribution plan for refugees in Europe but that the country would bring people in directly from UN camps in the Middle East.

No other European country has done as much to support refugees from Syria, he told a press conference with his Portuguese counterpart Pedro Passos Coelho.

Britain has taken in some 5,000 refugees and is committed to taking in some thousands more refugees to "avoid risking the dangerous journey that is tragically costing so many lives," he added.

Pressure on Britain to help put an end to the crisis has intensified after a shocking image of the body of drowned Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi, reflecting the plight of refugees, circled the internet on Thursday.

Passos Coelho said Portugal was also "available to contribute actively" to the humanitarian crisis, which has been referred to as the worst since the end of WWII.

However he didn't reveal how many people Portugal would take in apart from the 1,500 set in the refugee quota the country agreed to in July. Endit