A Green Party MEP has taken a stand for ‘visibly different’ politicians after claiming he was told to leave the area in front of the EU Parliament on his first day.
Your face when you've just had someone ask if you're lost & then you're told to leave, on your first day at work. '??
— M?G!D (@MagicMagid) July 2, 2019
I know I'm visibily different. I don't have the privilege to hide my identity. I'm BLACK & my name is Magid. I don't intend to try fit in. Get used to it!
pic.twitter.com/HhWG63kE9U
Magid Magid, who was elected in the 2019 EU elections, tweeted a picture of himself from Strasbourg saying: “Your face when you’ve just had someone ask if you’re lost and then you’re told to leave, on your first day at work. I know I’m visibily different. I don’t have the privilege to hide my identity. I’m BLACK and my name is Magid. I don’t intend to try fit in. Get used to it!”
He was in Strasbourg for the opening of parliament on a day of high tensions regarding the UK’s membership of the union, with protest stunts from both the Liberal Democrats and the Brexit Party.
MORE: Lib Dem MEPs wear Bollocks to Brexit t-shirts to European parliamentWATCH: Brexit Party MEPs turn their backs on the European anthemMagid Magid, who has long rejected the image of the suit-wearing politician, was wearing shorts, a baseball cap and a t-shirt with the slogan ‘F*** Fascism’ on the day he says he was approached by EU security.
“To even be put in this position says a lot about what people think the stereotypical politician is meant to look like,” he said, clarifying that he hadn’t left.
Thanks for the love & support guys. Just to clarity, I obviously didn't leave. But to even be put in this position says a lot about what people think the stereotypical politician is meant to look like.
— M?G!D (@MagicMagid) July 2, 2019
The Somali-born Green MEP shot to fame in 2018 when he was elected Lord Mayor of Sheffield on a pro-immigration, pro-social justice, environmental stance with the Green Party, and went on to become one of seven UK Greens at the European parliament.
According to the BBC, the EU parliament said it immediately investigated the claims and has denied that any of its staff were involved in the incident.