144 left Humanity 1, but 35 remained on board. From the Geo Barent, rescue ship of Doctors Without Borders, 357 people were disembarked, while 215 remain on board. But the clash is over who cannot get off, as foreseen by the government decree on migratory flows. The voltage level is very high. The commander of Humanity 1, Joachim Ebeling, said firmly, explaining that “we were ordered to leave the port of Catania:” But I can’t, we have to find a solution here “because” it would be against the law to go away with the survivors , as my lawyer explained to me. “And soon the confrontation could move to courtrooms:” a pool of lawyers – announces Aboubakar Soumahoro, deputy of the Italian Left and Verdi Chamber – is following the legal position of the 35 refugees left on board of the Humanity 1 ship. They will not depart, because it would be illegal. We are taking action to enforce the law and international law. “Meanwhile, the people left on the NGO boat look out of the boat and follow the movement on the Levante pier. And when the Italian leftist, Pierpaolo Montante, passes by he beats his fist on his heart, two thunderous applauses go off from the ship that move the politician who was left without a voice in chanting, together with dozens of activists, slogans against the government’s migration rules.
ANSA agency
“Life must be saved, the Mediterranean is a cemetery, perhaps it is the largest cemetery” but “Italy, this government, cannot do anything without an agreement with Europe, the responsibility is European”, “every government of the European Union must agree on what … (ANSA)
According to Doctors Without Borders “a rescue operation can only be considered finished once all the survivors have been disembarked in a safe place”. The NGO denies that “selective and partial disembarkation, such as that proposed by the Italian authorities, is not to be considered legal according to maritime law conventions” and recalls that “the government should take all necessary measures to ensure that survivors remain on board as soon as possible, in accordance with the provisions of the Guidelines on the Treatment of Persons Rescued at Sea “. Even from Geo Barents the first to get off are minors and families. They will be taken to the Palaspedini, the municipal sports facility, where those disembarked by Humanity 1 were taken yesterday – 102 of which one hundred unaccompanied – who are transferred to facilities for minors. It remains to be understood what will happen to the ships of the NGOs which, once women, children, frailties and families have landed, will refuse to leave Italian waters with the other migrants on board despite the provisions of the decree and if, on failure to comply with the new provision, the judiciary will intervene with investigations and kidnappings. The protests of the activist world, against the ‘selective landing’, meanwhile, were not long in coming. The Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, was challenged by some exponents of the Mediterranean NGO in Venice while he was taking part in an event and the Democratic Party, with Letta, asked the head of the department to report to Parliament in the Chamber. But the ‘hard line’ is confirmed by the government and the ‘tug of war’ with the NGOs seems destined to continue, with two positions that appear irreconcilable. Two other NGO ships still remain off the coast of Catania: the German Rise Above, with 90 people on board, and the Norwegian Ocean Viking, with 234 migrants, with the latter being outside the Italian territorial waters, but sailing close to the its ‘border’. And Alarm Phone launches the alert for a ship with about 500 people on board, “fleeing Libya”, which is “in trouble in the Sar area east of the archipelago of Malta”.
Migrants, the Geo Barents enters the port of Catania for inspections
A step forward for an agreement on the redistribution of migrants disembarked in Italy could come from France which will finalize on Tuesday, in a meeting of its Ministry of the Interior, the modalities for the reception of migrants disembarked in Italy: it is a confirmation of the availability expressed last Friday by Minister Gerald Darmanin to welcome “a part of the migrants, women and children, so that Italy does not have to take on the burden of this arrival alone”. The go-ahead for the transfer will come after an inspection in Italy by the French immigration officers who will carry out interviews with the migrants to be welcomed. In these hours, however, the discussions for the redistribution of asylum seekers could also concern other countries, such as Germany. Meanwhile, the Public Prosecutor of Catania has opened an investigation into the possible presence of smugglers on the ship Humanity 1 and Geo Barents. The investigations of the mobile team are aimed at identifying any crew members on boats rescued by NGOs in the Mediterranean.
Orban, thanks Meloni for defending the borders of Europe – “Finally! We owe a big thank you to Giorgia Meloni and the new Italian government for having protected the borders of Europe”. Viktor Orban writes it on Twitter relaunching an article in which he takes into account the partial closure of ports to NGO ships carrying migrants on board. The tweet ends with the hashtag “#GrazieGiorgia”.
