Only minors and suffering people were authorized to land on Sunday by the government of Giorgia Meloni. According to the Ministry of the Interior, more than 88,000 people parties of the African coasts have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year.
Le Monde with AFP
Migrants blocked aboard one of the humanitarian ships authorized to dock in Sicily by the far -right government of Giorgia Meloni threw themselves into the water on Monday, November 7. While only minors and people with medical problems were authorized to land on Sunday, two boats had been able to dock in Catania while two others were to remain off the coast of Italy.
Trapped in the face-to-face between NGOs and the new Italian executive, three migrants jumped on Monday from Geo Barents, a doctors managed by Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The three men were quickly recovered, according to MSF. Shortly after, a dozen other migrants on the bridge of the boat chanted “Help us”, noted a journalist from the France-Presse agency (AFP).
Simultaneously, more than 500 people, reported earlier in distress by the NGO Alarm Phone, were rescued by the Italian authorities and landed in Sicily, said the prefect of Syracuse, Giuseppa Scaduto. “They are first the subject of a medical examination, then they are identified by the police before being distributed in reception structures,” said M me scaduto.
357 migrants authorized to land, 215 still blocked
M me meloni, the chef of the post-fascist party Fratelli d’Italia, is committed to “defending the borders” of Italy by preventing ships from NGOs operating in the Mediterranean D ‘Enter the Italian ports to land the thousands of migrants they rescue every year. According to the Italian Interior Ministry, more than 88,000 people have arrived from the African coasts since 1 er January.
The Democratic Senator Antonio Nicita, who went to humanitarian ships wetting off the port of Catania, believes that “the situation is tense” on board. “On ships, nervousness reigns, humanitarian workers calm the spirits. Many migrants undressed in front of us to show us infections on the private parts,” he testified, evoking cases of scab. p>
The Geo Barents accosted on Sunday evening, and the Italian authorities authorized 357 people to land, including children, while refusing entry to 215 others. One of the migrants was then evacuated by ambulance after complaining about acute abdominal pain, said MSF on Monday, stressing that the others were increasingly vulnerable. “Their situation, their level of psychological stress is very, very high,” said Riccardo Gatti, research and rescue chief at MSF. “The ship has its limits in terms of medical assistance,” he said.
“I am not going anywhere with these people on board”
In the port is also the boat under German pavilion Humanity 1, operated by the charitable organization SOS Humanity, which landed 144 people on Sunday. On board always remain 35 adult male adult migrants. A decree of the Italian government published on Friday states that the ship has only been authorized to dock only the time necessary to identify passengers in “emergency situation”.
The captain of the ship, Joachim Ebeling, challenged the order to leave the port, insisting on Monday on the fact that “anyone rescued has the right to land in a safe port”. “I am not going anywhere with these people on board,” he said to journalists.
The new Italian government, the most right since the Second World War, has committed to observing a hard line towards migrants, the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Pierdosi, believing that the migrants rescued at sea are the responsibility of the State under the flag of which the boats navigate – in the case of Norwegian and German.
Appeals were filed before the courts of Rome and Catania on Monday, said SOS Humanity. Amnesty International, for its part, estimated that Italy “has given its international obligations”. In a press release, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (OIM) “continue to urge European governments to quickly offer a safe place and [to] authorize the immediate landing nearly 600 people remaining on NGO ships “.