TENS of thousands of demonstrators will take to Britain’s streets today to protest at the government’s racist asylum policy amid the worst refugee crisis since the second world war.

More than 80,000 people are expected to take part in a Solidarity with Refugees demonstration in London calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to take effective action to turn the refugee crisis around and accept Britain’s fair share of refugees already in Europe.

Similar protests are planned for Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow and elsewhere.

The demonstrations come after 1.4 million people signed petitions, wrote to their MPs or tweeted photos of themselves supporting the #refugeeswelcome campaign in the last week.

They have been called in the run-up to a critical EU meeting in Brussels on Monday, which Home Secretary Teresa May will attend to discuss a response to the crisis.

The huge outpouring of public compassion for people fleeing conflict and persecution and seeking safety in Europe, combined with anger at the government’s lack of leadership on the crisis, forced Mr Cameron into a U-turn.

Having originally claimed that accepting more refugees would not solve the problem, he backtracked and announced that Britain will take in 20,000 people from camps on Syria’s borders over the next four years.

Campaigners argue, however, that this measure was far from sufficient.

People’s Assembly Against Austerity national secretary Sam Fairbairn told the Star: “Our government is responsible for the displacement of millions across the globe with wars, intervention and continuous meddling in other countries’ politics, and now Cameron is attempting to use the refugee crisis as an excuse to escalate further military attacks on Syria, which will only make the refugee crisis worse.”

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said: “The Prime Minister’s announcement — which amounts to letting in just 12 Syrian refugees per day until May 2020 — is pitifully short of what’s needed and of what British people want and expect.

“The UK should be taking more refugees — and doing so as quickly as possible. We have a moral responsibility to help those fleeing persecution.”