Bold landing at Lampedusa | Challenge to politics …

Yesterday, another landing brought into question the xenophobia of the Italian government. After spending endless hours under the sun on the deck of the yacht Alex, from the Mediterranean NGO, the 46 migrants on board were able to set foot on the mainland yesterday at dawn in the Italian port of Lampedusa. Although the authorities authorized the landing, they hijacked the boat, they said preemptively.

This latest event not only deepened the discussions within the European Union, but also within the Italian government itself, where Deputy Foreign Minister Manlio Di Stefano publicly crossed the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior, leader of the European Right and promoter of the policy of closed ports, Matteo Salvini. "Salvini has the feeling of Maradona, but he looks like Higuain, he is in bad shape," said Di Stefano, leader of the Five-Star Movement, party government partner, Salvini, the xenophobic league in the North, referring to the two Argentine footballers who played. in Italy.
The 46 immigrants landed yesterday in Lampedusa at 1:30 pm and were immediately taken to a reception center after the captain of Alex had decided that they had to necessarily reach the Italian port despite the refusal from Rome. according to the newspaper Corriere della Sera. The center, with a capacity of 97 people, now houses more than 200 immigrants who arrived in the past few hours, the Italian newspaper reported.
Salvini promulgated in June a decree according to which the captain, the operator or the owner of a ship that enters without authorization in Italian waters can be fined up to 50,000 euros. After the arrival of the yacht Alex at the port, the Minister of the Interior announced that the fine would be increased to one million euros. According to the newspaper Repubblica, the boat was seized on an interim basis and the authorities imposed a fine of 16,000 euros, the minimum provided for by law, to the Mediterranean NGO that uses the boat to help migrants and refugees between them. coasts of North Africa and East. South of Europe. In addition, the captain of the sailboat, Tommaso Stella, was accused of "promoting illegal immigration" and of having violated the code of navigation for not having respected the order of "stop" issued by an Italian warship guarding the port. The preventive seizure of the ship and the indictment against the commander must be ratified today by the Agrigento's office in Sicily, where Stella will have to make a statement, Repubblica.

The Mediterranean NGO rescued 54 immigrants Thursday with his boat Alex in international waters against Libya and, after the evacuation of 13 people between pregnant women and children, the rest remained on the deck of this small boat under the sun. suffocating. The captain of the ship waited Saturday afternoon to break Salvini's veto and reach the Italian port, saying that there was an untenable situation on board, due in particular to the lack of toilets for many people (the sailboat has a capacity for 18 people).

The arrival of 46 immigrants, a week after the arrival of 40 shipwrecked rescued by the German NGO Sea Watch, again put in debate the policy of "closed ports" claimed by the Deputy Prime Minister Minister and Head of La Liga, the Liga right, Salvini. According to the interpretation defended by the Minister of the Interior, NGOs that rescue migrants and refugees from the high seas to avoid drowning favor traffickers of human beings. Salvini not only defends a policy of closed ports, but also calls on neighboring countries, in particular those who criticize it, to act with solidarity and to participate in the distribution of migrants and refugees arriving on the continent through the Italian Ports.

Although the leader of the League and the European right are pressing the rest of the EU bloc countries not to accept humanitarian ships, the flow of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean is not diminishing and rescues multiply. According to data from the United Nations Refugee Office, UNHCR, 666 people have died or disappeared in the Mediterranean this year, while another 27,959 have arrived by sea from the European continent.

Yesterday, Alan Kurdi, of the German NGO Sea Eye, with 65 immigrants on board, was also allowed to disembark in Malta after several hours of waiting to gain access to a safe harbor. The ship owes its name to a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned after the sinking of the ship that he was traveling with his family. The image of his body lying on a Turkish beach has been around the world in 2015.

The Government of Malta, which had negotiations yesterday with the rest of the European Union and especially Germany, said that none of these migrants would remain on their territory. As announced by the Twitter account of the first Maltese social network Joseph Muscat, immigrants are allowed to land in their country but will then be transferred to other European countries.