US anti-fascism expert leaves country day after being blocked from flying to Spain
www.theguardian.com
Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was told at gate his trip was cancelled after Trump threats

A Rutgers University professor who taught a course on anti-fascism was blocked from leaving the US for Spain on Wednesday night, according to media reports, hours after Donald Trump hosted a White House roundtable highlighting the impact of antifa – or “anti-fascist” – far-left activists.

Mark Bray, an historian who published the 2017 book Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, and has taught courses on anti-fascism at the New Jersey university, was attempting to board a plane at Newark airport bound for Europe when he was informed at the boarding gate that the reservations for him and his family had been cancelled.

‘Someone’ cancelled my family’s flight out of the country at the last second,” Bray posted on Bluesky social media. “We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags. Went through security. Then at our gate our reservation ‘disappeared.’”

No details on who canceled the flight.

  • tidderuuf@lemmy.world
    141·
    3 days ago

    Was he blocked or his flight cancelled? A lot of flights are being cancelled due to that little government shutdown that the media was quick to forget about.

    • Washedupcynic@lemmy.caOPEnglish
      25·
      2 days ago

      Edit: the whole flight wasn’t canceled, his booking disappeared. No details on who canceled his access to the flight. Could have been someone trolling him, could have been government. He’s booked a new flight.

      Bray told the outlet that the family were rebooked for Thursday evening but were in the dark about why the earlier booking had been cancelled. “I may sound conspiratorial, but I don’t think it is a coincidence,” he said. “We’re at a hotel and we’re just going to try again.”

      • lividweasel@lemmy.world
        410·
        2 days ago

        I mean, many flights get cancelled every day for a wide variety of reasons. While it’s possible that someone with power ordered the flight cancelled because this guy was on it, it seems far more likely that it was for some mundane reason.

        • assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works
          181·
          2 days ago

          Worth noting that the flight itself wasn’t cancelled, his reservation/booking “just disappeared”. I highly doubt the government interfered, while the administration is certainly this petty I doubt anyone with any authority at all was even aware.