Madiba Statue Overlooks Refugee ‘Graveyard of Lifejackets’ in London

In the early hours of this morning a group of humanitarians placed 2,500 used lifejackets in Parliament Square, London… to highlight the plight of refugees. South African expat BEV TROMP captured these photos of the sombre scene.

“Each lifejacket represents three human lives lost trying to escape war & find refuge,” says Bev. “Madiba would have had something to say… his statue in Parliament Square looks down on it all.” (See below.)

Bev said it was a very sobering sight and felt “really, really sad. A sea of lost lives, it literally gave me cold shivers.

“There were big lifejackets, tiny weeny baby ones, torn and shredded.  Hard reality made more real.”

Each of these lifejackets comes from the beaches of Greece, worn by refugees crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the Greek island of Chios, escaping from countries like Syria.

The display coincides with the United Nations Migration Summit, where British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to call on fellow politicians to distinguish better between refugees and those trying to enter a country for economic reasons.

May will also recommend that refugees be able to claim asylum in the first safe country they enter, to prevent them being exposed to criminal gangs.

According to reports, many of these lifejackets – including those for children – have actually been made with dangerous, non-buoyant materials by people smugglers.

All photos © Bev Tromp.