Katie Hopkins: Petition calling on The Sun to sack columnist over migrants article hits target

Over 200,000 people want to see her fired after she labelled migrants "cockroaches"

Hundreds of thousands of people have signed a petition to see Katie Hopkins sacked from The Sun

A petition calling on The Sun newspaper to sack its columnist Katie Hopkins has reached its target, after she described migrants fleeing to Europe as “cockroaches”.

In just three days, over 200,000 people have signed the Change.org petition - making it one of the fastest growing petitions of the year so far.

The piece published last week has sparked a heated debate over her use of language – which petitioners have described as “malicious” – amid claims Hopkins has broken editorial guidelines.

Read more: Caller takes Hopkins to task over migrant comments
Comment: Why was Hopkins' hateful piece published?
Why has the Mediterranean become a graveyard for the most desperate?

Lead petitioner Izzy Saunders wrote on Change.org that "the majority of migrants who make this crossing are from war-torn Syria" or "Eritrea which they leave to avoid extreme oppression and human rights violations."

She added that those who board boats can pay as much as £10,000 to make the "desperate journey".

"Inexplicably, she described them as 'feral humans' despite her own flagrant lack of humanity," Ms Saunders wrote.

A spokesman from The Sun said the newspaper does not comment on online petitions.