Look down Australia. You may notice something beneath your feet. In honour of Refugee Week, people across the country are showing their support for refugees and asylum seekers by chalking up touching messages of solidarity.
The Chalk Your Support campaign encourages people to get their hands dusty in an attempt to put immigration policy back on the pre-election agenda.
Thousands packed into Sydney Town Hall to kick off the project over the weekend, scrawling messages of compassion and concern on chalkboards, while others scribbled theirs on footpaths and pavements across the country.
Among them, calls for closure of Australian detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru, while others simply urged empathy for the plight of the 65 million people currently displaced around the world.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore launched the campaign, and said it was a “fun” way of showing political leaders that “we want a society that values diversity and acceptance.”
“We can’t stop making these public statements until our federal representatives recognise we want to welcome refugees instead of slamming the door on people who dare to seek a life free from terror, poverty, famine or persecution,” she said via Facebook.
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