PROTESTERS held a vigil outside Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday morning as 15 activists who blocked  a deportation flight from leaving Stansted airport began their defence against charges under anti-terrorism legislation.

Around 100 campaigners gathered outside the court and heard testimonies from former detainees, asylum-seekers and refugees as well as organisations and religious leaders.

The activists, known as the Stansted 15, are on trial for locking themselves together around a plane in March 2017 in a bid to stop 70 people on board from being deported to Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

If and when the deportation went ahead is not known, but the prosecution has previously told the court that the runway was shut for 80 minutes and 19 flights had to be diverted to other airports.

The activists are charged with intentionally disrupting services at an aerodrome under the Aviation and Maritime Security Act, which was introduced in response to the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The legislation was designed to target terrorist activity.

Detention action group Freed Voices said the charges were “grotesquely disproportionate,” with spokesman Michael Darko adding: “The way chartered flights are done is no different to the way we transported slaves in this country.”

Britain’s use of such flights for deportations is a “secretive human rights violation” and sending people to other countries against their will is “inhumane and cruel,” the group said in a statement.

An Occupy London spokesperson sent a message of solidarity to the Stansted 15, applauding those who have “put their liberty at risk” to save others.

“This is not terrorism, this is human compassion and dignity at its best,” the group added.

The vigil ended with a minute’s silence for those who have lost their lives in immigration detention centres, during deportations and at borders.

The trial began in October and is expected to last several more weeks.