Refugee disgusted after Donald Trump Jr used his photo to liken Syrians fleeing war to poisoned Skittles

The man who took the photo of the Skittles which Donald Trump Jr used in tweet comparing the popular candy to refugees has revealed himself to be a former refugee.

Donald Trump's eldest son triggered an online storm with a tweet comparing Syrian refugees to a bowl containing an assortment of tainted and untainted candies.

"This image says it all," Donald Trump Jr, 38, wrote Monday, in a tweet showing a picture of a white bowl filled with the popular, rainbow-colored Skittles candies.

Written above the image is: "If I had a bowl of skittles and I told you just three would kill you. Would you take a handful? That's our Syria refugee problem."

David Kittos, 48, from Guildford, UK, does not follow Twitter, but was alerted by friends that his image had become embroiled in political controversy.

The photographer told the BBC he posted the image to Flickr in January 2010 and never put it up for sale.

"This was not done with my permission, I don't support his politics and I would never take his money to use it," the photographer told the BBC.

He said he was shocked his image had been used to spread Trump's political message.

"In 1974, when I was six-years old, I was a refugee from the Turkish occupation of Cyprus so I would never approve the use of this image against refugees."

Mr Kittos say he is now a British citizen but was a refugee because of the Turkish occupation.

"We had to leave everything behind overnight. Our property and our possessions." he told the BBC.

Mr Kittos said he is unsure whether he will take action over the use of his image by the Trump campaign.

"I would like the Trump campaign to delete the image, but they are probably not interested in what I have to say," he said.

RELATED STORY: Trump son compares Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles

Skittles bites back

The company that owns Skittles, Wrigley America, has a simple message for Trump Jr.

"Skittles are candy. Refugees are people," the company said in a statement.

"We don't feel it is an appropriate analogy. We will respectfully refrain from further commentary as anything we say could be misinterpreted as marketing."

The Twitter post - showing the familiar "Trump-Pence 2016" logo with the presidential campaign slogan "Make America Great Again!" - was met with immediate scorn from users of the popular micro-blogging site.

People replied to the meme by posting pictures of refugees with the caption "not a skittle".

"I'm not even big on Skittles but now I will buy up every single packet," wrote @SarahSahim.

"Is Donald Trump's new campaign slogan "Fear The Rainbow"? wrote Twitter user @AngrySalmond.

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Donald Trump, the 2016 Republican presidential candidate, has sparked waves of criticism with comments on race, immigrants and refugees, including calling for a ban on Muslim travellers to the United States.

Equally controversial was his pronouncement last year that many Mexican immigrants were drug smugglers and rapists.

The brash businessman also is strongly opposed to plans by President Barack Obama to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States by the end of this month.

Syria is in the grip of the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II, amid an exodus of more than 4.8 million fleeing the war-torn country.

The United States, which has a long tradition of taking in refugees, has been criticized for its slow response to the Syrian crisis.