Italy - Neighboring Malta Copies Salvini’s Refusal To Let Migrant Ship With 600 Refugees Dock

A new European migrant crisis could be unleashed on the old continent in a matter of hours after the island nation of Malta copied Italy’s refusal to let a migrant ship with 629 African refugees from Libya enter its port.

Yesterday afternoon already, Mr Matteo Salvini, leader of the Lega Nord and Italy’s new interior minister, had declared that he would refuse entry to a migrant ship stranded in the Mediterranean low on food and water enter port, knowing that as soon as he does, he needs to accept those on board as refugees under EU regulation.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Malta can&#39;t &#39;look the other way&#39; on migrants: Italy&#39;s Salvini <a href="https://t.co/l1mzCrWDJk">https://t.co/l1mzCrWDJk</a> <a href="https://t.co/DXGtLpKLIf">pic.twitter.com/DXGtLpKLIf</a></p>&mdash; FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) <a href="https://twitter.com/France24_en/status/1006083099095023617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Neighboring Malta did just as Mr. Salvini predicted and also refused to let the ship, known as the Aquarius, dock in port.

Related coverage: http://thegoldwater.com/news/28393-Italy-Ship-With-600-Migrants-Instantly-Refused-Entry-By-Salvini

Malta's Prime Minister, Mr. Joseph Muscat's claimed: "They're concerned with Italy's authorities. They manifestly go against international rules and risk creating a dangerous situation for all those involved. Malta is in full conformity with international obligations and will not take the vessel in its ports".

The Medecins Sans Frontieres and Sos Mediterranee organizations who operate the ship claim that they are running low on supplies.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">4. Nonetheless, it appears Salvini chose right moment to play hardliner on immigration about <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Aquarius?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Aquarius</a> ship<a href="https://t.co/jStmAZilXs">https://t.co/jStmAZilXs</a>. We’ll never know if it helped, but was timed well.</p>&mdash; Daniele Albertazzi (@DrAlbertazziUK) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrAlbertazziUK/status/1006109010272104449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Mr. Salvini has repeatedly attacked those aid agencies for providing the African migrants with what he described as a “taxi service” to migrants from Africa to Italy. He has also warned of another ship ready to bring more refugees as from tomorrow: "Today even the ship Sea Watch 3, a German NGO and the Dutch flag, is off the coast of Libya waiting to bring the umpteenth load of immigrants, to Italy. But Italy has stopped bending its head and obeying".

Meanwhile, Mr. Salvini’s Lega Nord saw support soar to levels unseen in local elections on Sunday, with over six and a half million voters in various cities across the Italian peninsula, as Italians backed his tough stance.

Source:

https://www.ad.nl/buitenland/italie-en-malta-weigeren-boot-met-629-immigranten~acc4edf9/