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Fake checkpoints in Surrey gave people a taste of what life is like for Syrian refugees

Save the Children released a disturbing video last year showing what happens to a little girl as the UK plunges into chaos in a conflict that resembles the Syrian civil war.

"Just because it isn't happening here, doesn't mean it isn't happening," the tagline reads.

As a follow-up, the charity has released a video using hidden cameras that capture the reactions of members of the British public when they are told that their access to food, hospitals and schools has become limited or cut off altogether.

Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow narrates the three minute-video, which is shot to resemble reporting of a far-off conflict.

"What's going on? Have we entered a parallel universe or something?" asks one bewildered woman when she's told there's a waiting list for milk.

One dad trying to drop his kids off at school is outraged. "This is unacceptable, we had no notification," he tells a security guard barring the entrance.


Save the Children's CEO Justin Forsyth said in a statement:

A tiny fraction of Syrian refugees make it to Europe. The poorest, the sick and the elderly remain under siege, barrel-bombed, gassed and shot, starved of food and medicine.

Despite the generosity of the UK government and others, more widely, money to assist millions living in refugees camps is drying up. These families now face an extreme choice, to return to a war zone or risk drowning as they are smuggled into Europe. If the average European citizen would not stand for being cut off from food, healthcare and schooling, why should Syrian families?

The daily exodus from Syria is reported to have reached 4,000 people a day this year, according to the UN.

The civil war, now in its fifth year, has killed more than 250,000 people and wounded at least a million.

To donate to Save the Children's Syria Appeal and learn more about their work, click here.

More: Why Al Jazeera stopped using the word migrant (and we probably should too)

More from The Independent: If London were Syria: Save The Children campaign releases unsettling video

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