LAMPEDUSA – Migrants lying on very dirty mattresses in every corner of the hotspot: inside and outside. “Mountains” of garbage bags, overflowing with remnants of groceries, litter and plastic bottles. Clothes thrown in bulk practically everywhere and an endless expanse of plastic bottles along the corridors that lead to the bathrooms where it is practically impossible to enter due to physiological needs and the nauseating smell. It is hell at the Lampedusa hotspot where there are currently 1,878 people, compared to just under 350 places available. “They are all crowded together, there are also women, four are pregnant, children, sick and in need of care who sleep on the ground where they also eat, among the waste – wrote the former mayor of the Pelagie Islands Giusi Nicolini -. The beds are less than 200. These images – explains Nicolini – could be of Libya. But no, it’s Italy “.
Palazzotto (Pd): “Management incapacity”
“The situation in the Lampedusa hotspot is out of control. It is not a landing emergency, but an emergency linked to managerial inability”, the deputy Erasmo Palazzotto adds to the dose. “It is not clear how a country like Italy is not able to empty the center with regular timeliness. There is no reason for the Contrada Imbriacola hotspot to collapse – he adds – It is inhumane to keep in these conditions 4 pregnant women and several pediatric children in contact with confirmed Covid cases, suspected cases of tuberculosis putting the health of vulnerable subjects and pregnant women at risk. We do not understand what the Ministry of the Interior is waiting for to immediately transfer these people and guarantee their safety “. “There are specific responsibilities on this situation that must be sought, otherwise the suspicion is legitimate that behind this situation there is a precise strategy aimed once again at favoring political and economic speculation”, concludes Palazzotto.
Musumeci: “Ready to declare the structure outlawed”
“The inhumane treatment that the central government continues to reserve for migrants landed in Lampedusa is not worthy of a civilized nation: 1,540 people piled up like sardines, in a state structure that can hold up to 400, are the truest example of failure of the EU immigration policy and the unconditional surrender of the Draghi government in the face of the cynicism of the countries of Northern Europe “. To write it on social networks is the president of the Sicilian Region, Nello Musumeci. “If we do not proceed to a buffer solution – he adds -, with the rental of a ship in the roadstead and with the immediate transfer of the redundant migrants by means of an airlift, I will be forced to declare the structure outlawed due to hygienic emergency- The real closeness of my government goes to the mayor of Lampedusa, as soon as possible I will personally go to the island “.
The allegations of the Lega and Salvini will soon be on the island
Even the Lega makes its voice heard: “Since the beginning of the year, arrivals have broken through 30 thousand: in the same period of time, in 2021 they were under 23 thousand”. “A situation so dramatic that it prompted the mayor of Lampedusa Filippo Mannino to ask for an urgent meeting with the Minister of the Interior Luciana Lamorgese: the Interior Ministry gave availability only at the end of the month. – continues the League – Alarmed the deputy mayor and councilor for the territory and to the environment Attilio Lucia (Lega), who is in close contact with Matteo Salvini. The party leader announced: I will soon be on the island “.
The San Marco ship arrives tomorrow
The first answers were there. There are 26 migrants who with two charter flights, with destination Pomezia and Rome, will leave the hotspot of Lampedusa within the day. These are Tunisians who will be repatriated after the transfer. The Prefecture of Agrigento, in agreement with the Viminale, is in the meantime working to plan – but only starting from Sunday, when the weather conditions allow it – the transfers, by ferry and patrol boats, of most of the over 1800 guests of the hotspot of the Imbriacola district.
“The San Marco Navy ship will arrive in Lampedusa by tomorrow morning to transfer about 600 migrants present in the hotspot from the island within a day, giving priority to vulnerable people. The transfer operations will continue on Sunday thanks to the use of other naval units of the finance police and coast guard. The migrant transfer operations were agreed upon following the contacts activated by the Ministry of the Interior with the top management of the Navy, the finance police and the coast guard “, he explains the Interior Ministry.
The mayor: consistent departures tomorrow
“Tomorrow substantial transfers of migrants will be carried out and the hotspot will be lightened. Today the adverse weather conditions did not allow even the arrival of the scheduled ferries. I am in constant contact with the Prefecture of Agrigento and with the Ministry of the Interior who have expressed his maximum collaboration. Minister Lamorgese agreed to meet me in person and it was I, also based on the availability of the municipal secretary, who chose the end date of the month “, said the mayor of Lampedusa Filippo Mannino. “These people cannot wait one more day” added Mannino referring to the fact that the Prefecture assumed the start of transfers on Sunday.