Some 185 immigrants and refugees arrived in Lampedusa this Tuesday, after coast guard and Italian police patrol boats intercepted the boats in which they were traveling and escorted them to the port.
The new arrivals bring the number of people there to 1,544, after a total of 475 people disembarked on the Italian island on Monday.
A group of 450 migrants and refugees are expected to be transferred from the island to Porto Empedocle, on mainland Sicily, to relieve logistical pressure.
The Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs affirmed on Monday that the situation of the arrival of African immigrants to Italy “is not explosive, it has already exploded”, after the arrival of more than 10,000 people in three days.
Speaking to journalists at the Italian consulate in New York, Antonio Tajani assured that he will address the issue of migratory pressure at the United Nations general assembly, which begins today.
“There are no walls that can contain the movement of millions and millions of people. Look at the history of barbarian invasions. Rome’s army, the most powerful in military history, could not stop them,” he declared.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, visited the island of Lampedusa this Sunday, together with the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.
More than 127,000 immigrants have entered Italy since the beginning of the year, almost double the number registered in the same period in 2022, according to data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior.
Many landed in Lampedusa, the southernmost territory of Italy. The prime minister warned that the increase in migrant arrivals represents “unsustainable pressure” on Italy.
Von der Leyen presented an action plan for Lampedusa which admits a new naval mission of the European Union in the Mediterranean, but Tajani replied that not even the 27 together are capable of facing the crisis and asked that NATO and the United Nations intervene. United.
Source: TSF
