Inspection done – 155 refugees left NGO ship in Sicily

The ship docked late Saturday evening in the port of Catania. “There are currently about 24 shipwrecked people on board Humanity 1, who apparently the Italian authorities do not want to disembark. These are all grown men with no medical conditions,” the NGO SOS Humanity wrote on Twitter.

Left demand disembarkation
About 30 activists came to inspect the ship with a total of 179 refugees. Among them were some left-wing parliamentarians who called for the disembarkation of all rescued refugees. “(…) People who are shipwrecked, already exhausted by cold, fatigue, trauma and torture, are considered objects by the will of the government of Giorgia Meloni. Too bad,” the Greens and Italian leftist MP Aboubakar Soumahoro wrote on Twitter. He had also come to the “selective embarkation” and announced resistance.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had previously described the NGO ships as “pirate ships”. She is considering banning all humanitarian rescue ships from Italian waters. Italy’s Minister for the Regions, Roberto Calderoli, spoke of “taxis from the sea” and also called for strict government training in dealing with the refugees.

France accepts refugees
Other ships from various NGOs with a total of more than 1000 refugees on board are currently waiting to dock. Among them is the “Geo Barentsz” of the NGO Doctors Without Borders with 572 people. Italy’s new government sees the duty of the state flags to receive the rescued refugees. She is currently in talks with the French government, which has agreed to take in some migrants.