On Saturday the Daily Mail ran this story: ‘Migrant found dead in the back of a lorry as it prepares to enter Channel Tunnel‘

It reported:

The corpse of an illegal migrant who was desperate to get to Britain was today found in the back of a lorry preparing to enter the Channel Tunnel. French Immigration Minister Eric Besson said the grim discovery highlighted the ‘insane risks’ which foreigners are taking to get to the UK so that they can claim asylum or disappear into the black economy.

Mr Besson said he was certain that the unnamed man had paid a people smuggler hundreds of pounds for a quick passage to his ‘Eldorado’. Instead the migrant got an airless, cramped compartment in an HGV which ultimately cost him his life.

Given its daily demonisation of immigrants and asylum seekers as “scroungers”, you won’t be surprised to hear that Daily Mail readers weren’t that sympathetic.

But the comments were too appalling even for the Daily Mail. Some of the top rated comments were:

one down, millions to go
- crackers, yorkshire, 31/10/2009 2:42

Good news. One less to worry about!
- keith jones, porthcawl, south wales, 30/10/2009 22:13

Shame but I would be a hypocrit if I said I was sorry!
- Nanny B, West Sussex, 30/10/2009 17:42

All the top comments in order of popularity were celebrating the death of the immigrant, according to a post by 5 Chinese Crackers.

He captured the top-rated comments in an image here.

Clearly embarrassed its own readers did not have much sympathy for the dead immigrant, today the Daily Mail deleted most of the comments apart from 2.

Mail Online advertisers must be thrilled they’re next to such content.

More:
5CC: Daily Mail comments and the milk of human kindness
Tabloid Watch: Mail readers think death of illegal immigrant is ‘good news’

· About the author: Sunny Hundal is editor of Liberal Conspiracy. He works full time as a journalist, commentator, blogger, activist and general layabout. He was voted Guardian blogger of the year in 2006. Also at: Pickled Politics, on Twitter and Comment is free.

· Other posts by Sunny H

· Filed under: news

Reactions: Twitter, blogs

1. GuyAitchison
   

   RT @pickledpolitics: RT @libcon: Daily Mail finally deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH

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2. maximal is me
   

   RT @libcon Daily Mail finally deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH

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3. Catherine Neilan
   

   RT @libcon: Mail finally deletes comments hailing death http://bit.ly/1ZOvio

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4. Josie Ensor
   

   RT @libcon Daily Mail finally deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH

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5. Tosk59
   

   RT @MXML RT @libcon Daily Mail deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH ¶ So that makes it go away?

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6. Rheadieuk
   

   RT @libcon: Daily Mail finally deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH

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7. topsy top20k
   

   Daily Mail finally deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH

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8. Phil H
   

   Mail finally delete comments celebrating death of migrant http://tinyurl.com/yz8q8ep

9. Tweets that mention Liberal Conspiracy » Mail finally deletes comments hailing death -- Topsy.com
   

   [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Liberal Conspiracy and Richard Lane, Ryan Bestford. Ryan Bestford said: RT @libcon: Daily Mail finally deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH [...]

10. GuyAitchison
    

    RT @pickledpolitics: RT @libcon: Daily Mail finally deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH

11. maximal is me
    

    RT @libcon Daily Mail finally deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH

12. Catherine Neilan
    

    RT @libcon: Mail finally deletes comments hailing death http://bit.ly/1ZOvio

13. Josie Ensor
    

    RT @libcon Daily Mail finally deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH

14. uberVU - social comments
    

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by libcon: Daily Mail finally deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH…

15. Tosk59
    

    RT @MXML RT @libcon Daily Mail deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH ¶ So that makes it go away?

16. Why I’m proud to be liberal on immigration, example 1 « Freethinking Economist
    

    [...] that comments celebrating when a migrant is found dead in an HGV must be acceptable.  Hat-tip to Liberal Conspiracy, and the always-excellent 5 Chinese Crackers for doing the unpleasant job of reading such papers on [...]

17. Rheadieuk
    

    RT @libcon: Daily Mail finally deletes appalling comments hailing death of immigrant http://bit.ly/3K2mVH

18. Left Wing blogger in rage at Daily Mail shock: Updated « Left Outside
    

    [...] Mail may have realised not all those visiting the site are frothing racist mouth breathers and have removed some of the content. Wouldn’t want the advertisers taking [...]

19. Mark Pack
    

    Liberal Conspiracy » Mail finally deletes comments hailing death http://bit.ly/s6HyJ

20. Pickled Politics » ‘Immigrant dies, we save money!’
    

    [...] these people celebrating a death might not look good alongside national blue-chip advertisers, and they deleted all the comments. How convenient.   |   Trackback link   |   Add to del.icio.us   | [...]

21. The LDV Friday Five (ish): 6/11/09
    

    [...] it is a principle from which Westminster might learn.” – submitted by stephenftall. 3. Mail finally deletes comments hailing death (Liberal Conspiracy) “Sigh. All too predictable.” – submitted by markpack. 4. [...]

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