Campaign group defends fake blue plaque criticising Witham MP Priti Patel
Freedom from Torture stuck the fake plaque to the side of Witham Town Hall earlier this week.
Last updated 26th Jun 2022
The organisation Freedom from Torture took to Essex this week to place a blue plaque on Witham Town Hall, Priti Patels constituency.
Freedom from Torture are an organisation that supports torture survivors to recover and rebuild their lives in the UK through specialist therapy.
Earlier this week members of the organisation made their way to Witham Town Hall and placed the blue plaque on the building.
It read: “Priti Patel, MP for Witham, closed the door on people seeking safety at their time of greatest need."
It's since been taken down.
Jack Steadman, head of digital and campaigns at Freedom from torture, said:
“We came up with the idea to put up a blue plaque in Priti Patels constituency because we wanted to show that by demonising these people who literally fled torture, by trying to scapegoat them in order to score political points and distract from her own failures, Priti Patel is standing on the wrong side of history."
"We wanted to commemorate that on World Refugee Day with our own blue plaque that showed that Priti Patel is standing on the wrong side of history and closing the door on people who need safety."
The group posted a video of the plaque online and have been amazed by the response.
Jack Steadman added: “I think there's been over 200,000 views across social media.
We've had guilty feminist podcast sharing it, we've had celebrities engaging with it, people saying this is, you know, this is amazing.
“This is really inspiring, I think, for whatever reason, it's a message that's really resonated with people.”
The government has recently been criticised over their Rwanda policy for asylum seekers.
Announced by the government in April, the policy plans to take some asylum seekers who come to the UK on a one-way flight to Rwanda.
However the first flight which was supposed to take asylum seekers to Rwanda was cancelled last week.
The government has pledged to press ahead with the policy, which it insists will deter people crossing the English Channel in small boats.