Author: WILL STONE
LGBT activists marked International Migrants Day today by plastering hundreds of adverts on London’s Tube network telling passengers how to stop deportations on commercial airlines.
The Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants (LGSM) group replaced 200 ads on the Piccadilly, Victoria and Central lines.
The group’s See It, Say It, Stop It ads — a spin on the British Transport Police’s See It, Say It, Sorted security campaign — highlights the government’s brutal practice of deporting migrants on commercial flights.
The ad shows three panels — a passenger who notices a deportation taking place speaks to the person being detained and responds by refusing to take their seat on the plane.
Swedish student Elin Errson managed to stop the deportation of an Afghan man in this way when she refused to take her seat on a flight leaving from Gothenburg airport in July.
Activists also handed out leaflets to travellers at Heathrow and en route to other airports.
LGSM campaigner Sam Bjorn said: “Often when we are confronted with situations where we see vulnerable people falling victim to an abusive system we feel powerless to help. We want to change that.
“We aim to build a movement to resist this brutal, racist practice of secretive deportations and the hostile environment as a whole. We hope to empower everyone to take a stand and refuse to sit in silence.”
The government continues to charter planes specifically to deport groups of vulnerable migrants, but also deports individuals on commercial passenger flights.
Source: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/lgsm-spreads-word-how-stop-deportation
