Britse activisten weten deportaties te stoppen door startbaan te blokkeren

The runway at Stansted was closed on Tuesday night after protesters ran out to prevent a plane carrying eight deportees from taking off. The campaign groups End Deportations, Plane Stupid and activists from Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants said 14 activists had locked themselves to a tripod to stop a “mass deportation charter flight” from the Essex airport to Nigeria and Ghana. Campaigners said that deportees on the flight included people who feared for their lives and had claimed asylum. One woman on the flight said: “My ex-husband said he knows I am being deported. He is waiting for me. He is planning to kill me.” Another male deportee said: “I have been in this country for almost 18 years. My family and my life is here in the UK. If they take me back to Ghana I will kill myself.” Susan James from Plane Stupid said: “Mass deportations like the one we stopped tonight are immoral, unfair and illegal. In the wake of the Brexit vote, this government is more keen than ever to be seen to be ‘tough’ on immigration. But its mass deportations have devastating human consequences. Everything about these deportations points to the fact that they are inhuman, and must be stopped.”

Chris Johnston in Stansted runway closed after anti-deportation protesters block flight (Guardian)