"Salvini is a dangerous racist" | Carola Rackete …

Carola Rackete, captain of the ship Sea Watch 3, today described Italy's Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, as a "dangerous racist". The 31-year-old German girl arrived a few weeks ago in the Sicilian port of Lampedusa with 42 migrants on board and landed despite orders from Salvini, who defined her as a "communist cheetah".

"I am concerned about the tone used by Salvini in the sense that he expresses ideas that violate human rights.He is a dangerous man, as are all those who belong to this radical right and nativists, from the UK Independence Party to an alternative to Germany, "Rackete told the newspaper The Republic.

It all began on June 12, when Sea Watch 3 embarked migrants in the Mediterranean and sailed for 19 days before landing in Lampedusa, surrounded by Italian Coast Guard boats, which sought to prevent it. d & # 39; landing. Arrived on Italian soil, Rackete was arrested by Italian authorities, accused of hitting an Italian police patrol.

On Tuesday, she was released by a judge who considered that there was no crime because her humanitarian duty was to save lives, which angered the leader of the Northern Xenophobic League. . Salvini said that he was going to deport her immediately to Germany.

Rackete said that he would not invite Salvini to board his ship because "a very strict rule is applied: no racist aboard", he is currently the object an investigation for alleged violation of Italian immigration laws and will be questioned again next Tuesday. .

The captain said that she would do the same thing again. "I hope that if such a situation recurs, the Italian authorities would react much sooner." However, he stated that it was an "error of judgment" to strike the patrolman of the Guardia di Finanza.

He also stated that "sometimes, you must commit acts of civil disobedience to defend human rights and raise before a judge the illegality of a certain rule", with respect to the alleged violation of Italian law.

Moreover, Rackete's attorney confirmed that he would sue Salvini for misuse of language and hate speech. "It's not easy to collect all the insults launched by Salvini in recent weeks or forms of incitement to hatred, which is even more serious when a minister of the United States." Interior does it, "said lawyer Alessandro Gamberini.

He added that it is the right-wing politician "who moves the waters of hatred" and that "the demand for defamation is the way to give a signal" because "when they touch their wallet, it's when people understand that they can not insult. " free. "