THE ARCH of Victory became a political stage on Wednesday when a large group of protesters sent a clear message about asylum seekers to the federal government – Let Them Stay.
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About 60 Ballarat residents joined local poet Nathan Curnow to hold up a 14-metre banner emblazoned with the words, in protest against the deportation of 267 asylum seekers to Nauru and to show solidarity with a Brisbane hospital that was refusing to release a baby back into detention.
Ballarat councillor Belinda Coates and activist group Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children were among the attendees.
WATCH MR CURNOW’S INTERVIEW HERE
Mr Curnow said it was a grassroots action designed to send a clear message – that Ballarat wants offshore detention shut down.
“This is really one poet in his driveway with a 14-metre-long banner, painting out the words Let Them Stay and inviting Ballarat to be part of this message,” he said.
The Let Them Stay slogan was created in response to the plight of a young Tamil family in Ballarat facing deportation.
