Italy - Salvini Refuses Another Migrant Ship: “Only Way They’ll See Italy Is On A Postcard”

Days before the EU countries hold an emergency summit to discuss immigration, Italy’s de facto leader, the hard-line interior minister Mr Matteo Salvini, put the knife in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s back a bit deeper by refusing port to a Dutch-flagged rescue boat with 224 migrants on board, only a week after he had turned away another foreign ship, the Aquarius, carrying 630 migrants.

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Italian authorities declared that they would be seizing and impounding the migrant rescue ship Lifeline, after it failed to clarify whether it was carrying a Dutch or a German flag. The ship, operated by German NGO Mission Lifeline and flying a Dutch flag, had earlier requested the right to enter an Italian port after it had picked up multiple migrants from two rubber boats in international waters off the coast of Libya.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Our ship sails under the Dutch flag which can be proven by this registration confirmation. <a href="https://t.co/BHtE1DyjqG">pic.twitter.com/BHtE1DyjqG</a></p>&mdash; MISSION LIFELINE (@SEENOTRETTUNG) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEENOTRETTUNG/status/1009903625714298881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Earlier in the week, Mr. Salvini had already warned that he would refuse entry to any NGO ship that would set sail to Libya simply to pick up migrants. Therefore, his ministry had contacted the Dutch ambassador about the ship’s activities, adding that the migrants “will only see Italy on a postcard.”

The NGO declared afterward: “Mission Lifeline fears that a similar situation to the Aquarius could be on the horizon,” referring to the other migrant ship that Italy (and Malta) refused entry last week and which ultimately had to steer to Spain.

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“Therefore the NGO calls on the competent authorities to swiftly react to their obligation to designate a place of safety.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheCube?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheCube</a> | Italy is at the heart of fresh drama in the Mediterranean this morning just days ahead of an EU mini-summit on migration. <a href="https://twitter.com/NewsAMorgan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NewsAMorgan</a> spoke to the co-founder of Mission Lifeline about what&#39;s next for the rescue ship. <a href="https://t.co/hmSN3ny0h7">pic.twitter.com/hmSN3ny0h7</a></p>&mdash; euronews (@euronews) <a href="https://twitter.com/euronews/status/1010027713866825734?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2018</a></blockquote>

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The NGO’s management tried to argue afterward that “We never were in Libyan waters!”

Mr. Salvini was elected on a platform of anti-immigration and the polling press admits that most Italians agree with his methods thus far.

Source:

https://video.repubblica.it/dossier/immigrati-2015/migranti-salvini-contro-lifeline--vada-in-olanda-ong-straniere-non-toccheranno-piu-suolo-italiano/308561/309192