Swedish Student Blocks Deportation Of Afghan Man By Refusing To Sit Down On A Plane
On Monday, Swedish student activist Elin Ersson stopped the deportation of an Afghan man by refusing to sit down on a Gothenburg flight until the man was removed from the plane. She filmed her standoff with crew members and unhappy passengers on a Facebook live stream that has since gone viral.
According to the New York Times, Ersson initially bought the plane ticket believing that a 26-year-old Afghan man was being deported from Gothenburg to Kabul via this Turkish Airline flight. When she boarded, she discovered that the young Afghan wasn't present on the flight and that there was an Afghan man in his 50s that was being deported by Swedish authorities.
The standoff between Ersson and the more irate passengers on board is an emotional one. You can hear people yelling the background for her to sit down. An English man accuses her of frightening the children and even forcibly takes her phone away. Some passengers, however, rose to Ersson's support, applauding her for her actions and also refusing to take a seat as a sign of solidarity.
Because of Ersson's actions, the Afghan man was eventually removed from the plane and his deportation was stalled at least for the time being.