Syrian: We want to go to UK but Cameron 'treats us so harshly'

Middle East Eye has been speaking to Syrian refugees in Oer Erkenschwick, a small town north of Dortmund in Germany that hit the news last week when a video emerged of locals welcoming refugees arriving on a coach. 

Farid, a 26-year-old from Damascus, told MEE's Mary Atkinson that he would like to settle in the United Kingdom but feels it is unlikely due to the country's restrictive policy on Syrian refugees. 

"I am a Syrian Kurd. My family is from northern Syria but I grew up in Damascus and lived my whole life there," he said.

"I spent 30 days on the journey from Turkey to here. It was so hard. I would love to come to Britain but David Cameron is so strict with refugees. He treats us so harshly."

The UK has been criticised for taking in fewer than 200 Syrian refugees, from a country where a four-year-long war has displaced over 6.5 million out of a 22.5 million population. 

On Friday Prime Minister Cameron announced that the UK will take in "thousands" more Syrian refugees, after global outrage was sparked over a photo of a dead child found drowned on a Turkish beach. Cameron said the refugees will be received from camps close to Syria, so as to provide them with "safe passage" to the UK, rather than taking in those who have already made the treacherous journey to Europe.