Italy: 400 North African migrants land illegally in Sicily
Italy: 400 North African migrants land illegally in Sicily
By Arthur Lyons 25 May 2020
https://voiceofeurope.com/wp-content...PM-702x459.jpg Via Felipe Dana/AP
Roughly 400 North African migrants illegally disembarked on Sunday afternoon on the beach of Palma di Montechiar in Sicily. A mass landing of this size hasn’t occurred in Italy for years.
After being dropped off a few meters from the beach by the mother ship, the migrants dispersed into small groups and attempted to blend in with the normal population. Some were seen walking along the highway while others ran to the countryside area, La Stampa reports.
Police, carabinieri, and a military helicopter managed to track down and arrest about sixty of the migrants.
A few hours earlier, a group of 52 migrants from sub-Saharan African disembarked illegally on the island of Linosa, the smallest of the Pelagie islands. According to reports, all were detained by the carabinieri. They’re expected to be transferred to Lampedusa in the coming days.
On Saturday, two boats carrying a total of 46 Tunisian migrants were escorted to Lampedusa by coast guard patrol boats. All were disembarked at the Favaloro pier.
The same day, the Gurdia di Finanza – a militarized police force which operates under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance – intercepted three small boats carrying a total of 27 off the coast of Trapani, a city in western Sicily.
Between January 1st and May 22nd of this year, 4,445 migrant landings have taken place in Italy, compared to 1,361 in the same period of 2019. That’s more than a 300 percent increase in a single year.
Follow Arthur Lyons on Twitter
https://voiceofeurope.com/2020/05/it...ZB_fMKUh2nYoc8
