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State Compliance in Action: Bigots Refuse to Board Plane with "Arabic"-Looking Passengers

by Open-Publishing - Sunday 20 August 2006
12 comments

Discriminations-Minorit. Attack-Terrorism UK Transports

Mutiny as passengers refuse to fly until Asians are removed

Passengers refuse to allow holiday jet to take off until two Asian men are thrown off plane

CHRISTOPHER LEAKE and ANDREW CHAPMAN / UK Daily Mail | August 20 2006

British holidaymakers staged an unprecedented mutiny - refusing to allow their flight to take off until two men they feared were terrorists were forcibly removed.

The extraordinary scenes happened after some of the 150 passengers on a Malaga-Manchester flight overheard two men of Asian appearance apparently talking Arabic.

Passengers told cabin crew they feared for their safety and delooking manded police action. Some stormed off the Monarch Airlines Airbus A320 minutes before it was due to leave the Costa del Sol at 3am. Others waiting for Flight ZB 613 in the departure lounge refused to board it.

The incident fuels the row over airport security following the arrest of more than 20 people allegedly planning the suicide-bombing of transatlantic jets from the UK to America. It comes amid growing demands for passenger-profiling and selective security checks.

It also raised fears that more travellers will take the law into their own hands - effectively conducting their own ’passenger profiles’.

The passenger revolt came as Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary was accused of using the terror crisis to make money. Government sources say he boasted to an official at the Transport Department: "Every time I appear on TV, I get a spike in sales."

The Tories said the Government’s failure to reassure travellers had led the Malaga passengers to ’behave irrationally’ and ’hand a victory to terrorists’.

Websites used by pilots and cabin crew were yesterday reporting further incidents. In one, two British women with young children on another flight from Spain complained about flying with a bearded Muslim even though he had been security-checked twice before boarding.

The trouble in Malaga flared last Wednesday as two British citizens in their 20s waited in the departure lounge to board the pre-dawn flight and were heard talking what passengers took to be Arabic. Worries spread after a female passenger said she had heard something that alarmed her.

Passengers noticed that, despite the heat, the pair were wearing leather jackets and thick jumpers and were regularly checking their watches.

Initially, six passengers refused to board the flight. On board the aircraft, word reached one family. To the astonishment of cabin crew, they stood up and walked off, followed quickly by others.

The Monarch pilot - a highly experienced captain - accompanied by armed Civil Guard police and airport security staff, approached the two men and took their passports.

Half an hour later, police returned and escorted the two Asian passengers off the jet.

’There was no fuss or panic’

Soon afterwards, the aircraft was cleared while police did a thorough security sweep. Nothing was found and the plane took off - three hours late and without the two men on board.

Monarch arranged for them to spend the rest of the night in an airport hotel and flew them back to Manchester later on Wednesday.

College lecturer Jo Schofield, her husband Heath and daughters Emily, 15, and Isabel, 12, were caught up in the passenger mutiny.

Mrs Schofield, 38, said: "The plane was not yet full and it became apparent that people were refusing to board. In the gate waiting area, people had been talking about these two, who looked really suspicious with their heavy clothing, scruffy, rough, appearance and long hair.

"Some of the older children, who had seen the terror alert on television, were starting to mutter things like, ’Those two look like they’re bombers.’

"Then a family stood up and walked off the aircraft. They were joined by others, about eight in all. We learned later that six or seven people had refused to get on the plane.

"There was no fuss or panic. People just calmly and quietly got off the plane. There were no racist taunts or any remarks directed at the men.

"It was an eerie scene, very quiet. The children were starting to ask what was going on. We tried to play it down."

Mr Schofield, 40, an area sales manager, said: "When the men were taken off they didn’t argue or say a word. They just picked up their coats and obeyed the police. They seemed resigned to the fact they were under suspicion.

"The captain and crew were very apologetic when we were asked to evacuate the plane for the security search. But there was no dissent.

"While we were waiting, everyone agreed the men looked dodgy. Some passengers were very panicky and in tears. There was a lot of talking about terrorists."

Patrick Mercer, the Tory Homeland Security spokesman, said last night: "This is a victory for terrorists. These people on the flight have been terrorised into behaving irrationally.

"For those unfortunate two men to be victimised because of the colour of their skin is just nonsense."

Monarch said last night: "The captain was concerned about the security surrounding the two gentlemen on the aircraft and the decision was taken to remove them from the flight for further security checks.

"The two passengers offloaded from the flight were later cleared by airport security and rebooked to travel back to Manchester on a later flight."

A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Malaga said: "These men had aroused suspicion because of their appearance and the fact that they were speaking in a foreign language thought to be an Arabic language, and the pilot was refusing to take off until they were escorted off the plane."

Forum posts

  • The neocons, with the Bush family leading the cabal, have induced fear artificially, exaggerated beyond all reason, into the world public. This is what a paranoid sociopath, counselled by cowardly warhawks, avid for power, have accomplished. They have never tried to talk to any grievances of Muslims about their aggressive actions in the Gulf, most motivated by the lust for oil, bases and world domination. Instead, they have mentioned 9/11 a thousand times as a means to stay in power, offering their fundamentalist base the opportunity to take vengeance for 2,000 years of history. It IS all about oil and bases, but the mantra is "it’s for Jesus." This fools enough people to keep Bush and his entire pack in power.

  • I am surprised that you have labeled these people ’Bigots’.

    They have a right to make a risk assessment and decide if they want to fly or not, and remove themselves from the plane if they want to.

    That is called freedom.

    In fact, to quote the tag line on the top of this website: "To rebel is right, to disobey is a duty, to act is necessary !" Well, thats what these people were doing.

    It is clear that people simply removed themselves from the plane, somthing that they have every right to do.

    From the report above it seems clear that these men were not forced off the plane by the passengers, they were removed by the authorities, after checks had been made on their passports and accounts of their suspicious behaviour had been recieved.

    • 62.***.189.***: What a very perceptive comment. It was the crew’s fault for putting the two men off. The other passengers did what is their god-given right—showed their ignorance and racial bias. As the article said "There were no racist taunts or any remarks directed at the men." As the American backhanded compliment goes, "That was mighty white of them."

    • I maybe stereotyping here but what does an average English holidaymaker to Spain know about foriegn languages? Most can’t even bother to learn to speak a word of Spanish, the most they learn is Sangria SIC. From living in the UK for the past 30 years, most (white) people cannot tell the difference between, Urdu, Arabic, Hindi or Punjabi for that matter -"they all sound the same".

      We are told "they said something alarming in Arabic" and they looked Asian. So now it is an offence to speak Arabic or be Asian! What did they exactly say in Arabic? and whats wrong with wearing a leather jacket. Has anyone noticed how cold it feels coming in to the UK from somewhere like Spain? And oh "they looked scruffy and were looking at their watches" Now, how many times have you seen people looking at their watches and looking unkempt at a holiday departure lounge?

      Their only crime it seems was was that they were just the wrong colour, spoke a different language, looked different. Wouldn’t you say this was a classic case of good old English racism?

      If I was them I would get a good lawyer and sue.

    • These two young men looked very suspicious even to the experienced captain and his crew. How can anyone describe the voluntary disembarkment of people who obviously value their lives as the behaviour of bigots or racists? Again, people, we should not rush to judgment. We should take care in reading all the pertinent information before reaching conclusions about anyone else’s behaviour or intentions. This kind of poorly thought out journalism only adds fuel to the fires of hate and ill-will that have been the world’s bane for too goddamned long.

    • What do you call people who make "risk assessment" based on the language other people speak, on whether they have long hair, or on whether they wear jumpers and jackets for a predawn flight.

      But equally bad, I feel, is how the authorities handled the situation. After they ascertained these men were not a threat, they should have told the nervous passengers of their findings. They should have tried to reassure these people. If those passengers still want to fly without these men, it is within their rights to stay behind and purchase tickets for another flight. It is not within their rights to insist that these innocent men be further affected by their bigotry.

    • You call them, at worst, slightly paraniod.

      As for the remainder of your comments, I suggest that you read the article again. No passenger insisted that these men be remvoed, the captain and autorities decided that.

      Bear in mind that the historically, most terrorists that have hyjacked planes have passed through security. So thae fact that somone has pessed through security does not mean they are of no risk.

      People have a right to make a judgement - they do not have to blindly rely on the autorities view, which has been proven wrong many times (In fact each time a plane is hyjacked / bombed etc)

    • "This kind of poorly thought out journalism only adds fuel to the fires of hate and ill-will that have been the world’s bane for too goddamned long."

      Only a true fool could have written the above. Kicking two innocent men off a flight so the whites can feel comfortable is the pinnacle of hate and ill will.

    • Please read my post again concerning the behavior of the authorities. I faulted the authorities for removing the men. I did not say the passenger insisted the men be removed; the article did not report either way on this possibility. (However, it is noted in the article that some passengers refused to board the plane. To what end would they take that stance, but to say that they don’t want to fly with these men. Whether or not they insisted that the men be removed is not reported.)

      The passengers were paranoid as you say, but their paranoia were based on the difference in appearance between them and the other men. Perhaps they did not verbally abuse these men, but their action and the consequence certainly made it clear to the men that they were unfairly judged by people with preconceived notions and prejudices.

      Also, and this is surprising, we have yet to hear from the men themselves. We have seen several quotes from the passengers about their perceptions and action. I would like to hear the men’s side, too.

    • How true. Half of the Americans I speak with don’t even know that Iranians are not Arabic. They hardly understand the difference between Thailand and Taiwan, and can’t tell Korean, Japanese, or Chinese persons apart. Most Canadians know more US geography than adults in the US.

      I don’t say these things to berate Americans; they make far too easy a target and I don’t need to point out their profound ignorance of world affairs. I don’t believe that ignorance is simply hubris or bad education, but is part of a culture of hegemony and willful ignorance. As long as the Americans spend more on the military than the rest of the world combined, they will never step out of their SUVs long enough to understand the world around them. I hoped that 9/11 would force people to face reality, but it had the opposite effect. Living in the US is like a scene out of V for Vendetta. The entire media is dominated by nonstop war-mongering propaganda. I live in fear that my neighbors will report me for listening to Persian music. We are surely doomed by xenophobic fascism and grandiose delusions that are spinning out of control.

      I am way more afraid of my government and it’s brainwashed CNN-watching sheep than anyone speaking an undetermined language on a plane. As far as I can see the only person who died recently while flying was the guy who was shot in cold blood by a US sky marshall.

    • ’How can anyone describe the voluntary disembarkment of people who obviously value their lives as the behaviour of bigots or racists?’
      The reason segregated drinking fountains were implemented in America before the Black Civil Rights Movement was because people- who valued their health and their lives - believed that black people caused disease.
      The segregation in apartheid South Africa was implemented because people, who valued their lives, believed that black people would lower their quality of life.
      People can value their lives and be racist at the same time. in fact, as people in general appear to value their lives, it is likely that most racist people do as well.

  • biggots??get real,theres no white terrorists,asians have themselves to blame,most are anti west...and shouldnt speak in foreign in english speaking countrys..as they say,if you dont like it!!!!