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Swedish Student Attempts To Stop Man’s Deportation ‘To Hell’

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Swedish student and activist Elin Ersson delayed a plane two hours Tuesday to prevent an Afghan asylum seeker from being deported, Deutsche Welle reports.

Ersson refused to sit down, even after repeatedly being asked by flight attendants and surrounding passengers. Planes cannot take off until all passengers are seated.

Ersson purchased the plane ticket, scheduled from Gothenburg to Istanbul, after she learned that an Afghan man was scheduled to be onboard the flight for deportation. She livestreamed her protest after boarding the plane. In background of her video, people can be heard yelling “Sit down!” repeatedly.

Others applauded her and told her they agreed with what she was, literally, standing up for.

“We will open the door. Both you and that passenger will not fly,” a man is heard saying to Ersson. Tears flowed from her eyes as she agreed to leave when the Afghan man was removed, to the applause of passengers.

A spokesperson for the Swedish Prison and Probation Service confirmed that the Afghan man will be deported, despite Ersson’s delay.

According to the Swedish Aviation Act, Ersson could face hefty fines and possibly even jail time for her actions.