Gary Lineker and Lily Cole to join demo over child refugees stranded in Calais

Campaigner: Gary Lineker is among celebrities campaigning for child refugees
Leon Neal/AFP/Getty
Saphora Smith26 October 2016

Gary Lineker and Lily Cole will fight to help refugee children stranded in the Calais 'Jungle' camp at a demo in central London.

The Match of the Day presenter and model will join a host of stars at the rally on Millenium Bridge tomorrow morning.

Some 1,200 people are expected to turn up to pressurise the government to help those children stranded in the refugee camp, which is currently being demolished.

Campaigners will urge MPs to accelerate the implementation of the Dubs amendment, which allows unaccompanied children to come to Britain.

Actress Oona Chaplin and singer Sophie Barker will also attend the Love In Action Have a Heart gathering.

Migrants walk past tents with their belongings as they leave the camp
REUTERS

Around 1,200 unaccompanied child refugees currently reside in the camp.

Lineker's appearance at the event comes after he was at the centre of a storm over criticising media coverage questioning the age of children brought to Britain from Calais.

The Sun newspaper claimed the BBC was "under pressure to fire" Lineker over the comments, but the former footballer dismissed it.

He tweeted: "Getting a bit of a spanking today, but things could be worse - Imagine, just for a second, being a refugee having to flee from your home."

Lily Cole will join the march 
Matt Crossick/PA

Remi Olajoyegbe, co-founder of Love In Action, said the event would "show the British Government and media that there are many people in the UK who would welcome these refugees - people who are in desperate need of help and support - to this country with open arms".

Jimena Paratcha, who also co-founded Love In Action, added: "The more we focus on love the more we generate. We all know that the world needs this and these particular people need it more than ever right now. By opening our hearts and welcoming refugees we are love in action."

Additional reporting by the Press Association

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in