Dozens of migrants stopped from disembarking in Sicily by Italy’s new government
Italian authorities have prevented 35 migrants they did not deem as “vulnerable” from getting off a boat in Sicily on Sunday.
Since coming to power, Italy's far-right-led government has taken a hard line against privately run maritime rescue ships operating in Italian waters.
Humanitarian groups and two Italian lawmakers who travelled to Sicily protested the selection process as both illegal and inhumane.
The procedure was part of a directive ushered in by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi as Italy again targets the non-governmental organisations it has long accused of encouraging people trafficking in the central Mediterranean Sea.
“Free all the people, free them,'' Italian lawmaker Aboubakar Soumahoro said in an emotional appeal directed at Premier Giorgia Meloni from the Humanity 1 rescue ship in Catania, calling the new policy “inhumane”.
The passengers have faced ”trauma, they have faced everything that we can define as prolonged suffering, a hell," he added.
Italian authorities completed identifying vulnerable migrants on the German-operated Humanity 1 overnight and asked another boat with 572 migrants, the Geo Barents, to proceed on Sunday to Catania's port for the same vetting.
Two other boats run by non-governmental organizations remained at sea with no immediate change in their status.
The NGOs noted that people are sleeping on floors and decks, fever-inducing infections are spreading, and food and medical supplies are running out. Some migrants have been on the ships for more than two weeks.
Two Italian doctors began identifying people needing urgent medical care after Humanity 1’s doctor refused to participate in the selection process, said SOS Humanity spokesman Wasil Schauseil.
The group considers all
Read more on euronews.com
