🚨BREAKING: This Government's cruel Rwanda Bill has just passed
They have shown complete disregard for international law and the UK Supreme Court.
It's nothing short of criminal - so we headed to Parliament to set up the crime scene
Rishi Sunak, the new Prime Minister, says he’ll do “whatever it takes” to send refugees to Rwanda.
Well - we'll do whatever it takes to STOP that.
Who's with us?
We think politicians should actually listen when survivors speak.
We won't stop empowering refugees and torture survivors to be heard. Ever.
#IStandWithJoan
🚨BREAKING: We took the government to court on their plans to pushback refugee boats - and we just found out we WON! They’ve backed down 🥳
Today’s victory shows that, when we come together, we CAN beat this government’s toxic anti-refugee agenda.
🚨BREAKING: WE WON!!!
Privilege Style - the airline whose plane was ready to fly to Rwanda in June - has confirmed they WILL NOT fly any refugees to Rwanda!
People power WORKS!
Now let’s defeat this cruel scheme altogether.
🚨BREAKING🚨 Nobody will fly to Rwanda tonight 🎉
WE did this together! From protesters on the streets, to ppl chipping in to legal cases, to 1000s of emails & calls
We know the govt won't be giving up. So let's give this everything we've got, starting now. Together we can win
BREAKING: Suella Braverman’s cruelty towards refugees caused the crisis at the so-called Manston “processing centre”.
So we just renamed it in her honour
Reminder: every single person in one of these cars, fleeing Ukraine to seek safety, is someone just like you.
When you’re fleeing for safety there is no time to queue at the embassy. There's no form to fill.
A THREAD 🧵
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New Home Secretary
@SuellaBraverman
just told Conservative party Conference “it would be my dream to see a flight taking migrants to Rwanda by Christmas.”
Our dream is to have politicians that treat refugees like human beings - not trade them for cash.
Those censoring
@GaryLineker
have clearly forgotten that
@SuellaBraverman
was told by Holocaust survivor Joan Salter that her language is like the one Joan fled in the 1940s
For those with short memories, here’s the video
Sign Holocaust Survivor Joan Salter's open letter to the Home Secretary:
"Don’t forget the lessons of the past. We need safe routes for refugees, not scapegoating."
#IStandWithJoan
BREAKING
Yesterday the Home Secretary said she wants refugees on planes to Rwanda by December.
Today torture survivors disrupted the world's biggest airline conference to say: STOP THE FLIGHTS
📍World Aviation Festival, Amsterdam
BREAKING: Well done to all of you who phoned
@TitanAirways
today to ask them not to fly refugees to
#Rwanda
.
Together we will always stand with refugees – and together we can win.
#StopTheFlights
MESSAGE FROM THE BARRACKS.
My name is Omar.
I lived in the barracks for two months.
Today I'm using Freedom from Torture's platform to speak to you directly about the crisis of the UK government’s prison camps for refugees.
Please share my message.
THREAD
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BREAKING: Privilege Style was granted a permit for a flight from Stansted to Kigali, Rwanda at 9.30pm tomorrow, Tuesday 14th.
Is this THE flight
@privilege757
? it's not too late to do the right thing - say you won't send refugees to Rwanda
#StopTheFlights
BREAKING: An immigration van, sent to remove people from a Glasgow street, has been surrounded by protesters to block it from leaving.
The protesters are shouting: "LET OUR NEIGHBOURS GO!" 💕
One of our team is there and has sent us these photos from this powerful moment.
Yusra Mardini, 23, is an Olympic swimmer. She's also a Syrian refugee.
As a teenager, she escaped the war in Syria with her sister. Alone, they crossed eight countries & swam for three and a half hours, dragging their boat after their overcrowded dinghy to Lesbos capsized.
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🚨Breaking: new Home Secretary
@SuellaBraverman
just told Tory Party Conference she will ban anyone arriving across the Channel from claiming asylum.
Cruel. Barbaric. Unpopular. And against international law.
We will fight it with everything we’ve got.
BREAKING: The first people seeking safety have been taken onboard the Bibby Stockholm barge.
Today and every day we will stand up against cruel policies, whether that's housing refugees in floating prisons or cruel new laws.
Say it loud and clear: NOT IN OUR NAME
If
@BorisJohnson
is serious about standing with Ukraine, he must scrap his
#AntiRefugeeBill
.
We sent this message loud and clear on Tower Bridge in London
Hey Suella, you’re on the wrong side of history - so we put up a 🔵 plaque to show how your hostility will be remembered.
📍Suella Braverman’s constituency office, Fareham
BREAKING: the police tried to stop our banner drop.
This World Refugee Day, we couldn’t let them silence us: REFUGEES WELCOME, ALWAYS
📍Parliament, London
🚨BREAKING: Government's cruel Rwanda scheme DEFEATED in Supreme Court!
This is a huge victory for everyone who stands for a fairer, kinder, more humane asylum system.
To everyone who stood up against this cruel policy: THANK YOU
Every human crossing the Channel & seeking safety is someone just like you.
But this government is trying to make us forget that - They're trying to criminalise torture survivors escaping persecution.
No matter what we look or where we're from, we all deserve to live in peace.
Hey Rishi, isn’t it time for some Love, Actually? 💙
This
#HumanRightsDay
here’s a reminder that we’ll NEVER stop fighting for a more compassionate UK.
📍Downing Street, London.
This weekend a man threw a petrol bomb at a centre housing 700 people who'd fled for the UK looking for safety.
We have a message for certain newspapers, politicians and public figures: scapegoating costs lives.
"But for the courage of the policeman who tipped off my mother, and her daring trek over the mountains into Spain with me as a baby on her back, I would not be here today. I commend Gary Lineker for speaking up"
- Joan, a Holocaust survivor
When a government uses hostile words, when they create a hostile environment, they spur violent actions.
Make no mistake: This governments cruelty towards refugees isn’t accidental, it’s the whole point
Every human seeking safety is someone just like you.
A mother, father, sister, brother.
But today,
@pritipatel
is announcing cruel plans designed to make us forget that.
THREAD
🚨 BREAKING: the Rwanda plan has been ruled UNLAWFUL
This is a victory for reason & compassion & it affirms what the caring people of this country already knew: the UK Government’s cash for humans deal is not only deeply immoral, it flies in the face of the laws of this country
I condemn the appalling disorder in Knowsley last night. The alleged behaviour of some asylum seekers is never an excuse for violence and intimidation. Thank you to
@merseypolice
officers for keeping everyone safe.
No, there really isn’t.
Refugees are human beings.
Instead of competing to show who’s cruellest, we need politicians to step up for the kindness and compassion we all deserve
BREAKING: the Courts have just ruled to allow the Rwanda plan to go ahead - for now.
The only way to defeat this cruel cash for humans scheme is through people power and we’ve already shown what we can do.
Ready to step it up a gear?!
If you find a way to get out, you take it, because whatever the route - it's safer than staying put.
But this government’s anti-refugee Nationality and Borders bill will make it harder for people under threat in Ukraine and all over the world, to claim asylum in the UK.
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BREAKING: more refugees have now received letters saying they will be forcibly flown to Rwanda.
We still don't know when the flights will be, but one things sure - we have to get to work. All of us.
The flights were stopped before. They can be again.
🚨BREAKING: The House of Commons has just voted clause 11 of the Nationality and Borders Bill, one of the cruellest parts of this
#AntiRefugeeBill
, through to the final stages, by 318-220.
The real fight starts now. Here's what happens next.
THREAD 🧵
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Trying to fly refugees to Rwanda. Bacteria infested barges. Hateful and divisive language.
This is how your legacy will be remembered Suella Braverman.
Breaking: our new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak just appointed Suella Braverman BACK to the role of Home Secretary.
There is now no doubt of his view on the cruel cash for humans Rwanda plan.
But if we stopped one flight, we can stop them ALL.
On Friday I confronted Suella Braverman's use of hateful language. She refused to apologise. We must always challenge the language of hate. The Home Office demanded the video be taken town. They seem not to realise we are still a democracy.
BREAKING: The UK halted UNRWA funding based on information reportedly obtained through torture.
This would be a betrayal of the UK’s torture prevention duties
We wrote to the Prime Minister demanding URGENT action including review of the decision to suspend funding for UNRWA👇
Every single human being waiting to be sent to Rwanda is a human being with hopes and dreams just like you.
We can't let
@BorisJohnson
and
@pritipatel
get away with this.
#StopTheFlights
Guantanamo Bay opened on this day in 2002.
Here is why torture doesn't work, in 60 seconds - by someone who saw the US government's use of 'enhanced interrogation' with his own eyes.
@glynco
On a record day for small boat crossings, here’s the truth about the ECHR.
The European Convention on Human Rights was created to protect us all after the holocaust.
Refugees need safe routes, not scapegoating. Share if you stand with people simply fleeing for safety!
"How did this relative harmony turn to hatred in such a short period of time? Through the use of language. The language of hate and division."
Holocaust survivor
@T21Joan
demands we do not forget the lessons of the past.
#IStandWithJoan
It should NEVER be this hard to get from A to B.
With dangerous journeys, maze-like bureaucracy and endless delays, we gave Conservative Party attendees just a taste of what torture survivors and refugees face trying to reach safety.
📍Conservative Party Conference, Manchester
If passed into law, it will punish people fleeing war and torture, simply for the route they took to safety. ⠀
But it's still within the UK’s power to be there for people like Ukrainians seeking safety right now. There's still time for this govt to do the right thing.
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BREAKING: ANOTHER U-TURN!
Wow. Thanks to public pressure, the government have just announced they're also excluding war crimes from the
#OverseasOperationsBill
.
Together, we've guaranteed the removal of:
✅Torture
✅Genocide
✅Crimes against humanity
✅ War crimes
1.
This is the feelgood news story we all needed to read this Sunday!
At Penn Museum in the US, refugees are being hired as tour guides to exhibits from their home countries.
🚨BREAKING: The House of Lords has just defeated this govt AGAIN, voting 227 to 219 against Clause 11 of the
#AntiRefugeeBill
.
The bill now goes back to the House of Commons.
Whatever happens - we know most people are united against the hostility that this bill represents.
Refugees who survived torture didn't have a choice when fleeing to the UK for safety.
But we can choose to welcome them with open arms,
and treat them with the kindness and compassion they
deserve
Every single person in there has travelled thousands of kilometres and risked their lives to seek safety and peace.
Please sign Freedom from Torture's petition so that the government cannot ignore us any longer.
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Dear friends,
This is my message of hope.
My name is Dr Waheed, and I came from Afghanistan as a young boy to seek safety, with nothing and no one by my side.
Now, I'm an A&E doctor serving the British people on the front lines of the pandemic.
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