Four thousand people were arrested and taken to a detention center for migrants in Tripoli following a maxi operation by the police. The raid, which began yesterday in the Gargaresh district of the Libyan capital, is part of what has been defined by the Interior Ministry as a security campaign against illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
The Interior Ministry released photos of the intervention of the security forces with armored vehicles and said that the Ghout al-Shaal detention camp “received 4 thousand illegal immigrants of different nationalities” who “received medical assistance” and will be divided between various centers. At first, official sources spoke of about 500 unauthorized migrants under arrest, a number that has increased in the last few hours. To which is added at least one dead and 15 injured as reported by Vincent cochetel, special envoy of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in the central Mediterranean, to the news agency Ap.
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Cochetel pointed out that these are initial assessments and that in some cases it appears that security personnel have used excessive force and dragged people out of their homes. “We shouldn’t be surprised if people are scared and if they try to escape by sea,” reports always mix criminals and illegal migrants, he tweeted.
The arrested people were gathered in a facility in Tripoli called the “Collection and Return Center”, said the police colonel and head of the center. Nouri al-Grettli, and located in the city detention centers and nearby areas. But as many as possible will be deported and sent back to their country of origin, an official said Ap. These are miserable structures in which NGOs have reported abuse and violence against migrants.
Images of women, men and children sitting huddled in a courtyard circulate on social networks, behind them the banner of the Tripoli collection center. Other images from Gargaresh show people lying on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs. In a photo area, the inmates are seen surrounded by the military. Yet, according to the statement from the Libyan Attorney General, the operation “dismantled a network dedicated to drug, alcohol and weapons trafficking, and to aiding illegal immigration”. And while the NGOs denounced “mass arrests” the premier of the interim government, Abdulhamid Dbeibah, celebrated as “heroes” the agents of the Ministry of the Interior who led the raid.
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