Italy gives the green light to the entry of NGOs.
The three ships Louise Michel, Geo Barents and Humanity 1 are docked or will do so in the next few hours in Lampedusa, Salerno and Bari: they have received the "place of safety" from Italy to disembark the rescued people , a total of 542, including many unaccompanied minors.
Italy therefore chooses the soft line of welcoming, "there is no shortage of a sympathetic response, as long as the rules are respected" , Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani observed in Alicante. A signal of openness also welcomed in Europe, with Germany having already taken the first 164 who had requested asylum in Italy since the EU solidarity mechanism was established at the end of June, reiterating that "solidarity works on migration" .
The Louise Michel, small in size, was in an emergency situation due to adverse sea conditions and the harbor master's offices therefore sent her to the port of Lampedusa, as happened last month with the Rise Above, which was landed in Reggio Calabria. Happy ending postponed by 24 hours, due to bad weather, also for Geo Barents: "A safe place for disembarkation is finally good news for all the people who survived after the traumatic experiences they have faced", comments MSF.
Sos Humanity said that «while the crew carried out a rescue of 103 people in distress on the morning of December 6, they witnessed up close a forced repatriation of people fleeing by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. With two boats they violently stopped an unseaworthy dinghy with about 50 people on board. Six people remained in the water following the risky manoeuvre, the others were forcibly taken aboard the patrol boat and towed to Libya. The accident - says Sos Humanity - was documented by our crew and by the lifeboat Louise Michel. The six people left in the water managed to get onto a floating life raft on the Louise Michel and were then taken aboard Humanity 1.
(Unioneonline/D)