Swedish student fined for plane protest against Afghan’s deportation
- Elin Ersson got on plane to save Afghan man who wasn’t on board, but carried on with protest to help a convicted criminal who was also being deported
A Swedish student who live-streamed her protest against the deportation of an Afghan asylum seeker last year has been found guilty of violating Sweden’s aviation laws and fined US$322.
Elin Ersson, 22, avoided a prison sentence at Gothenburg District Court, where she was fined of 3,000 Swedish krona.
Last July, she broadcast her attempt to prevent a Turkish Airlines flight from leaving Göteborg Landvetter airport on Facebook. On board was a 50-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who was being deported after a criminal conviction for abusing his wife and daughter.
After Ersson refused to take her seat, several other passengers – including members of a soccer team – joined her protest and the asylum seeker was removed from the plane, to applause from passengers. The video went viral and has been viewed more than 5 million times.
The protest had a mixed reception in Sweden, where attitudes have hardened towards immigration. The government has sharply reduced the number of asylum seekers and brought the country’s asylum process in line with the rest of the EU.
Sweden took in 370,000 people in the five years to 2016, but received 21,500 asylum applications last year, down from a peak of 163,000 in 2015.