Hundreds of protesters were expected to march to the Home Office on Saturday demanding deportation proceedings be called off for an environmental activist imprisoned for scaling the Dartford Crossing.
Marcus Decker is serving one of the longest sentences ever passed for a non-violent protest in British history after a Just Stop Oil demonstration in October. He is a German citizen with leave to remain in the UK, but faces automatic deportation after serving the two years and seven months sentence.
After climbing 60 metres (200ft) up the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and releasing a Just Stop Oil banner, Decker and fellow activist Morgan Trowland remained on the bridge for almost 40 hours before being removed by police.
They were immediately taken into custody and have so far been held for nine months in HMP Chelmsford and HMP Highpoint.
Supporters, including from Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, planned to march from Parliament Square to the Home Office.
Speakers at the Don’t Deport Marcus event were scheduled to include Decker, who was due to speak by phone from prison, and his partner, Holly Cullen-Davies.
A petition against his deportation attracted more than 78,000 signatures.
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Cullen-Davies said the “double punishment” of Decker, who is stepfather to her two children, was “devastating and unjust”.
“As a result of their protest, Marcus was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison. But if such a high prison sentence was not bad enough, Marcus, a German citizen, is now being threatened with deportation,” she said.
“If deported, he would be separated from his family, his home, community and adopted country. Marcus has already been separated from them for seven months and now he might never come home again.”
On 25 May, after eight months in prison and a month after being found guilty of public nuisance, Decker received a letter from the Home Office indicating that he faced automatic deportation to Germany, Just Stop Oil said.
Although the group said he was appealing against the prison sentence, his case is not expected to reach the court of appeal until at least January 2024.
Indigo Rumbelow, a Just Stop Oil spokesperson, said: “We will be sending a clear message to the home secretary that the cowardly ‘double punishment’ of peaceful people in civil resistance to stop government criminality and protecting the lives of their families will not go unchallenged.
“We are demanding that Marcus stays in the UK and is not deported at the end of his sentence so that he can remain with his family, friends and stepchildren.”
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
