London (CNN) The inaugural flight of a controversial UK government scheme to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda was stopped on Tuesday at the eleventh hour, after an intervention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Several dozen asylum seekers saw their tickets canceled, Care4Calais refugee charity said, leaving just seven people due to be deported by Tuesday morning. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan also reacted, tweeting: "Tonight's inhumane deportation of asylum seekers to #Rwanda has been stopped by the ECtHR - minutes before it was due to depart. The shame is our own, because our Christian heritage should inspire us to treat asylum seekers with compassion, fairness and justice, as we have for centuries," the letter reads. Demonstrators protest outside of an airport perimeter fence against a planned deportation of asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda, at Gatwick Airport on June 12, 2022.

Source: CNN June 15, 2022 00:57 UTC