EXILED Chagos Islanders were yesterday continuing their five-day occupation of Trafalgar Square that was launched on Friday. Jean Paul France of the Chagos Islanders Movement told News Line: ‘We are still here in Trafalgar Square.
‘We are raising awareness. People have been coming up and asking questions day and night. ‘Our pictures are still along the wall. ‘Some of us have had to stay awake at night because people want to know what they are about.’
Chagos Islanders Movement chairman Isabelle Charlot said: ‘People have brought us food and water. Some cry when they hear our story. ‘The government know we are here, they know about us. ‘We are here for the people to know about us because our story is hidden. ‘The British trade unions should support us. ‘The unions should demand we get our rights.’
One of the islanders Jacques Flute said on Saturday: ‘We are a small amount of people but it makes us strong. We believe in what we are doing. We fight for it for 50 years. ‘I want the British government to recognise what it did in the past when it threw us off our island, and is still doing it to us.
‘It’s tearing us apart. Some of the husbands or wives are in the UK, while others are still in Mauritius.
‘Now we have to work for £20,000 a year when they check everything so they will allow our families to move to England. ‘Also, some of us have a British passport, some of us don’t, depending where you were born. ‘It’s not fair, everybody should be given a passport. Not doing that is another division they are making.’
