Italy: New Influx of Migrants in Lampedusa, State of Migration Emergency Extended
Giorgia Meloni, the country’s Prime Minister, but the situation regarding the migration issue has not changed,” this was the observation made by Annalisa Tardino, a European deputy of the Lega, to Breizh-info a few days ago, and it was not unfounded.
Indeed, at the beginning of the week, the Italian island of Lampedusa recorded new arrivals of migrants between May 27 and May 28.
On May 27, around fifty migrants landed on the island after their boat was intercepted by a maritime police vessel. Among these migrants were mainly Bangladeshis, Egyptians, and Syrians who indicated that they had set sail from the Libyan coast.
After reaching land, the fifty migrants were taken to Contrada Imbriacola, the Lampedusa accommodation center that had been emptied of its occupants a few hours earlier on the orders of the Agrigento prefecture (Sicily).
Later that same day on May 27, an additional 93 migrants landed on the shores of the Italian island on three boats. They had departed from Tunisia. The Italian news agency Ansa reported that many minors were among these migrants, with a significant number hailing from Egypt, Sudan, Syria, and Tunisia.
A few hours later, in the night from May 27 to May 28, a new influx of migrants occurred with the arrival of 143 individuals spread across four boats.
After taking care of these latest migrants, the Lampedusa accommodation center housed 289 people at dawn on May 28, including six who were described as “unaccompanied minors.”
In Rome on the same day, a decision by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Minister of Civil Protection Nello Musumeci published on May 28 in the Official Journal indicated that the state of emergency was extended by six months in the country “due to the exceptional increase in the flow of migrants entering the national territory through Mediterranean migration routes.”
The measure highlights that “the declaration of a state of emergency was adopted to address situations that require the use of extraordinary means and powers due to their intensity and scope.”
On Monday, May 27, Giorgia Meloni announced that since the beginning of 2024, the landings of migrants in Italy had “decreased by nearly 60%” compared to the same period last year.
Photo credit: DR (illustration photo)
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