A controversial column in The Sun in which Katie Hopkins said she would “use gunships to stop migrants” has gone on to cause over £30,000 worth of donations for the search and rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean.
The TV personality and columnist wrote a column in The Sun two days before the capsize of a boat carrying 700 migrants off of the coast of Libya. She referred to migrants as “cockroaches” and wrote “show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don’t care”.
In response to the column, a petition calling for her sacking as a columnist for The Sun was created by 22-year-old Izzy Saunders, who also created a JustGiving page to raise money for the search and rescue of migrants.
At the time of publication, the JustGiving page had raised over £30,000, and donations were rising at more than £1,000 per hour. The money will go to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) who recently announced that they will launch a joint search, rescue and medical aid operation in the Mediterranean. It has so far received 1,656 donations.
Saunders wrote in the Change petition, which has now had over 268,000 signatures, that The Sun should not “encourage these poisonous opinions”, and is asking editor David Dinsmore to remove Hopkins as a columnist.
She wrote: “The majority of migrants who make this crossing are from war-torn Syria which they flee for their own safety, or Eritrea which they leave to avoid extreme oppression and human rights violations. These people, who can pay sums of £10,000 and sometimes more to make this desperate journey, were called cockroaches by Katie Hopkins. Inexplicably, she described them as 'feral humans' despite her own flagrant lack of humanity.
“Katie claims she 'doesn't care if migrants die' which is an opinion she is entitled to, despite it being a sad and selfish one. I am not attacking her right to an opinion, however I do not believe The Sun newspaper should encourage these poisonous opinions.”
MSF is calling on European governments to guarantee safe and legal routes to reach the continent, to resume search and rescue activities at sea, and to prepare emergency plans at the borders in order to guarantee adequate reception conditions for those who seek safe haven in Europe.
