On the morning of August 17, 2016, as passengers boarded Brussels Airlines flight 371 from Brussels to Douala and Yaoundé, Cameroon, they witnessed a shocking scene: a man, who had his hands and ankles tied, was forcibly held down in his seat, bent over himself, by two police officers. The man was struggling and screaming, and seemed to be suffocating.

6 heroes

In response, the majority of the passengers refused to take their seats, expressing peacefully their outrage with such violent deportation. The flight captain finally ordered the police officers to halt the deportation. A few minutes after that, several other police officers arbitrarily designated six people as being the 'leaders' of the protest.

These passengers (three French and three Cameroonian nationals) are now facing prosecution for 'severely disrupting air traffic'.

In May, more than 40 organisations gathered in front of the Brussels Courthouse, on the occasion of the first hearing of the case, in order to show their support to these 'everyday heroes' and denounce the strategy implemented by the state secretary for asylum and immigration which aims to criminalise civil solidarity.

Speak up

In order to support these six heroes for the trial, which will begin on November 15, and to bring to light their remarkable solidarity, citizens and associations have launched the initiative #jenelabouclepas (I will not remain silent), with the aim of increasing awareness among citizens and asking them not to remain indifferent when they are witnessing such violent deportations.

This video gathers six famous Belgian figures to encourage the public 'not to remain silent' and to make a selfie video themselves to let the authorities know that they will not remain silent.

Here is the text of the video : 'If I witness a violent deportation of an undocumented person on a plane, I will not remain indifferent. Just like the passengers of the flight from Belgium to Cameroon back in August 2016, I will express my outrage and refuse to take my seat to show my solidarity to a person who is subject to cruel treatments. We need to support solidarity, not to sanction it! I will not remain silent! I – WILL – NOT – REMAIN – SILENT'.