Five 'happy refugees' pictures that went viral
- Published
What do you think of when you think of migrants and refugees?
Probably not smiling children or moments of joy. More typical are the picture of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy who was found dead on a Turkish beach, or images of a desperate father trying to make ends meet on the streets of Beirut. But in recent days several photos have shown a different side of the crisis. Here are a few that were widely shared on social networks.
The Danish police officer and the young girl
A series of photos showing a Danish police officer clowning around with a young girl were shared thousands of times on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. Lively discussions followed. One Facebook user commented: "Why cant the world always be like this. These moments are so rare that we require to share them around." But others took a more sceptical line. "The thing is if you really want to help these people," said one Reddit user, "it makes more sense to give [money] to improving their lives in their own countries."
The happy couples
An Associated Press photo showing a couple kissing after arriving in Greece was also making the rounds on Facebook. "Europe says OXI" is a pro-migrant group, and has been sharing images of demonstrations and other photos, such as this one which was shared nearly 2,000 times:
A man and his cat
It wasn't just particularly human moments going viral - a series of pictures with this Syrian man and his cat were circulating widely on Twitter.
The Serbian officer and the young boy
When BBC producer Manveen Rana snapped this photo at the border of Serbia and Macedonia, she wasn't expecting such a huge response - you can read the full story behind it here.
Blog by Mike Wendling, external
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