Thread by @EiriOhtani

On this bitterly cold night, I found a huge crowd of awesome humans in front of the Home Office HQ in London, united in their outrage over the lives lost through the violence of border control, and their determination to dismantle this killing machine. #RefugeesWelcome

I am a migrant, in fact a very privileged one. Even so, when I hear variations of ‘They are migrants, let them drown in the sea’ repeated again and again, I do get the message. Some people think I and people who are called “migrants” don’t deserve to live.

And if I am feeling like that from the comfort of my safety, imagine what’s going through the minds of already battered migrants, refugees or people seeking asylum now (yes, there are different categories but we share one crucial commonality – humans who moved across borders)

.@NazekRamadan once told me this: one @MigrantVoiceUK member said 'I don’t know why people hate us so much, when they don’t even know us.’ Whoever it was, I hear you. But I want you know about these people, who don’t know us, who came out tonight to stand in solidarity with us.

There is so much pain as we mourn 27 people who died crossing the Channel while desperately trying to reach the UK and countless others who were killed/harmed by the violence of border control across the world. But in tonight’s crowd, there was also lots of love, dignity & hope.

Thanks to the people who organised tonight's demo and also everyone who let me take photos of their placards!

https://twitter.com/MigrantVoiceUK/status/1463974425733255168?s=20

When our own existence is an act of resistance, we need to survive in defiance and hope. Here's the tidied up version of the thread I wrote for @MigrantVoiceUK
Good wishes to everyone who is attending today's solidarity demos for/with people on the move

migrantvoice.org/archive/on-thi…