A Swedish student who livestreamed her protest against the deportation of an Afghan asylum seeker last year has been found guilty of violating Sweden’s aviation laws and fined £250. Elin Ersson, 22, avoided a prison sentence at the Gothenburg district court, where she was sentenced to a fine of 3,000 Swedish krona.

Last July, she broadcast her attempt to prevent a Turkish Airlines flight from leaving Göteborg Landvetter airport on Facebook. A 50-year-old Afghan, asylum seeker and convicted criminal, who was being deported from the country, was onboard. After Ersson refused to take her seat, several other passengers – including members of a football team – joined her protest and the asylum seeker was removed from the plane, to applause from passengers. The video went viral has been viewed millions of times around the world.The protest has had a mixed reception in Sweden, where attitudes have hardened towards immigration. The government has sharply reduced the number of asylum seekers and brought the country’s asylum regime in line with the rest of the EU. Sweden took in 370,000 people in the five years to 2016, but received 21,500 asylum applications last year, down from a peak of 163,000 in 2015.(theguardian)…[+]