Italy disembarks stranded migrants, Salvini under investigation

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Europe

00:42

Italy on Sunday disembarked all 150 migrants from a rescue ship that had been docked for five days in a Sicilian port, ending the migrants' ordeal and a bitter stand-off between Rome’s anti-establishment government and its European Union partners.

The migrants, mainly from Eritrea, had been stranded in the port of Catania since Monday because the government refused to let them off the boat until other EU states agreed to take some of them in.

Meanwhile, Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who has led a popular crackdown against immigration since the government took office in June, announced that he had been placed under investigation by a Sicilian prosecutor for abuse of office, kidnapping and illegal arrest over his refusal to allow the migrants off the coastguard ship.

"Being investigated for defending the rights of Italians is a disgrace," Salvini said.

Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini looks on during a news conference in Rome, Italy, June 20, 2018. /VCG Photo

On Saturday, the United Nations called for reason from all sides after a meeting of envoys from 10 EU states in Brussels a day earlier failed to break the deadlock.

"Frightened people who may be in need of international protection should not be caught in the maelstrom of politics," the UN refugee agency UNHCR said in a statement.

The agency appealed to EU member states to "urgently" offer relocation places to the rescued people, in line with an agreement at an EU summit in June, and in the meantime, urged Italy to allow "the immediate disembarkation of those on board."

Rome had refused to back down, despite criticism from rights groups and the opposition, with Salvini saying he considered the attacks he received to be a "badge of honor."

The only help from within the bloc came late on Saturday from Ireland, whose offer to take in 20-25 migrants followed a pledge from non-EU member Albania to take in 20.

The rest would be housed by Italy's Catholic Church "at zero cost" to the Italian taxpayer, Salvini said.

Unaccompanied minor migrants disembark from the Italian coast guard vessel "Diciotti" at the port of Catania, Italy, August 22, 2018. /VCG Photo

Before the breakthrough late on Saturday, 13 migrants – seven women and six men – were ordered off the boat by doctors after a check-up carried out at around midday, before they were taken by ambulance to Catania's Garibaldi hospital.

The remaining 137 migrants disembarked in the early hours of Sunday to be taken to a reception center in the Sicilian city of Messina, from which they will be distributed to the Church dioceses as well as Ireland and Albania.

Under EU rules people must seek asylum in their country of arrival, but Rome has increasingly barred boats from docking at its ports.

More than 650,000 people have reached Italian shores since 2014, and even though the numbers have fallen steeply in the last year, Rome says it will not let any more rescue ships dock unless the migrants are shared out around the EU.

"The next ship can turn around and go back where it came from because our limit has been reached," Salvini said.

(Cover: Migrants wait to disembark from the Italian coast guard vessel "Diciotti" at the port of Catania, Italy, August 22, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters