A UK-based torture survivor has been ejected from the headquarters of an airline believed to be involved in forcibly moving refugees from the UK to Rwanda.
Kolbassia Haoussou MBE challenged Privilege Style to justify its alleged work alongside the Home Office in carrying out the controversial deportation policy unveiled by the Tories.
A flight is expected to depart the UK later today with seven asylum seekers on board - although three have launched a last-ditch bid to be removed.
Kolbassia was part of a group from charity Freedom from Torture who held a protest outside Privilege Style's Mallorca headquarters.
They unveiled a banner and chanted 'Stop the Flights', while one demonstrator told airline officials: "You still have time to do the right thing."
Kolbassia, who fled his native Chad after being tortured, said demonstrators were there to show they would not tolerate the airline "flying in the face of human decency".
He said: “In the last week alone, people in the UK have made hundreds of calls and sent over 30,000 letters to airlines suspected of involvement in the UK government’s cruel Rwanda scheme.
"Privilege Style thought they could ignore us, so we traveled to their headquarters in Mallorca to give them the message directly.
"Across the UK, everyone from people protesting in the streets to the heir to throne have spoken out against this neocolonial ‘cash for humans’ policy.
"With torture survivors believed to be on tonight’s flight, it is crucial that we unite to show airlines like Privilege Style that we won't tolerate them flying in the face of human decency.”
Private airline Privilege Style offers charter flights on behalf of numerous tour operators and VIP customers, including Spanish football giants Real Madrid.
It has disabled comments on its Instagram page following a fierce backlash after it was linked to Rwandan deportation flights.
The company has yet to publicly acknowledge that it will be operating the deportation.
The Mirror has contacted Privilege Style for comment.
Zoe Gardner, policy and advocacy manager for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), said: “No airline should be offering to aid and abet these racist and senseless plans, which we know will tear siblings apart and put lives in danger.
"That’s why so many of us are coming together and calling on airlines to refuse complicity in this government’s gross assault on human rights.
“We believe that people who’ve sought safety here should have their voices heard, their rights respected and be given the chance to rebuild their lives alongside their families and communities here.”
Celebrities including Gary Lineker, Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh, rapper and author Akala and artist Tracy Emin have written to the airline urging it to distance itself from the government policy.
Three people seeking asylum in the UK who are due to be put on the first flight to Rwanda are bringing last-minute High Court bids to be removed from the flight under a controversial Government policy.
The flight is expected to depart this evening and seven people are due to be on board, after a number were removed from the scheduled flight following legal challenges and reviews by the Home Office.
Of those seven, lawyers representing three - including two from Iran - are now asking Mr Justice Swift for an order preventing their removal to the east African nation at a hearing in London.
A challenge by a fourth asylum seeker was rejected by the same judge earlier on Tuesday.
The judge previously refused to grant a general injunction which would have prevented the flight, and potentially any further planned flights, from taking asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda pending the outcome of a full judicial review of the policy - due to be heard at the High Court in July.
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), which represents more than 80% of Border Force staff, and charities Care4Calais and Detention Action challenged his refusal to grant the injunction at a Court of Appeal hearing on Monday.
However, that appeal was dismissed by three senior judges, who said there was "no error" in the decision.
The Supreme Court is currently considering whether to hear an appeal against the Court of Appeal's ruling and will announce its decision shortly.
