Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo
Sun, 26 March 2023
Photograph: Elio Desiderio/EPA
Italian authorities have detained a migrant rescue boat financed by the British street artist Banksy after it responded to a distress call in the central Mediterranean.
The vessel, painted in bright pink and named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, was impounded in the port of Lampedusa on Sunday in relation to an alleged breach of new Italian rules for rescue boats operated by non-governmental organisations.
“We know of dozens of boats in distress right in front of the island at this very moment, yet we are being prevented from assisting. This is unacceptable!” the crew from Louise Michel said in a tweet.
On Sunday at least 29 people from sub-Saharan Africa died while trying to reach Italy after two boats carrying them across the Mediterranean sank off the coast of Tunisia.
Over the weekend, Italian authorities instructed the Louise Michel to head to the seaport of Trapani, after it had performed a first rescue operation on Saturday, according to an Italian coastguard press release issued on Sunday afternoon.
Owing to the high number of calls from people in distress, the crew decided to perform another rescue, resulting in a violation of the new protocols introduced by Italy’s far-right government.
“One of the boats capsized, the crew said on Twitter. “And 34 people were recovered from the water at night. A mother and her unconscious baby had to be evacuated, along with another person in a life-threatening condition. An Italian coastguard vessel was also present, but ignored repeated calls for assistance for about 37 minutes before finally supporting, while people were in the water just in front of them.
“Even after responding to multiple mayday relays from an aircraft about boats in distress, the Italian MRCC [Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre] repeatedly pressured the crew not to react accordingly, but to sail north without engaging in another rescue.”
The Italian coastguard complained that the NGO vessel was “complicating a delicate rescue coordination work”, as hundreds of other migrant boats arrived in Lampedusa over the weekend.
The incident comes weeks after an overcrowded wooden vessel carrying as many as 200 people fell apart in stormy seas just a few metres from the beach of Cutro, in Calabria. The bodies of at least 90 people have so far been recovered by the authorities, including dozens of children from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Pakistan and Iraq who were seeking refuge in Europe.
“European authorities are fully aware of people in distress in their SAR zone,” replied the NGO. “Still, they block #LouiseMichel from leaving port and rendering assistance. Several lives were lost in two shipwrecks yesterday. These deaths are not an accident nor a tragedy. They are wanted.”
Featuring a Banksy artwork depicting a girl in a life vest holding a heart-shaped safety buoy, the Louise Michel sails under a German flag. The 31-metre motor yacht, formerly owned by French customs authorities, is smaller but considerably faster than other NGO rescue vessels.
Banksy’s involvement in the rescue mission goes back to September 2019 when he sent an email to Pia Klemp, the former captain of several NGO boats that have rescued thousands of people over recent years.
“Hello Pia, I’ve read about your story in the papers. You sound like a badass,” he wrote. “I am an artist from the UK and I’ve made some work about the migrant crisis, obviously I can’t keep the money. Could you use it to buy a new boat or something? Please let me know. Well done. Banksy.”
Klemp, who initially thought it was a joke, believes she was chosen by Banksy due to her political stance. “I don’t see sea rescue as a humanitarian action, but as part of an anti-fascist fight,” she previously told the Guardian, making clear that Banksy’s involvement in the operations was limited to providing financial support. “Banksy won’t pretend that he knows better than us how to run a ship, and we won’t pretend to be artists.”
With a top speed of 27 knots, the Louise Michel would be able to “hopefully outrun the so-called Libyan coastguard before they get to boats with refugees and migrants and pull them back to the detention camps in Libya,” said Klemp.
Record-breaking number of migrants reach Italy in 48 hours
The recent controversial speech by the country's President
Euronews
Sun, 26 March 2023
In the past 48 hours, more than 4000 migrants have reached Southern Italy - a new record - with some 2,000 people disembarking on the island of Lampedusa alone.
According to government figures, arrivals have tripled in the first three months of 2023.
So far this year, more than 20,000 migrants landed on Italian shores. Some 6,500 people arrived in Italy during the same period in 2022.
Crossing the Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
Migrants are often crowded into unsafe, rickety rafts, which are prone to sinking, while the Italian coastguard has been accused of deliberately delaying rescues - something it denies.
More than 26,000 migrants have either died or gone missing in the sea since 2014.
30 people drown 'due to non-assistance' by Italy coastguard, alleges monitor
Italy and Malta have seen the number of boats travelling in the central Mediterranean multiply this weekend.
Most of the recent migrants set out from Tunisia, where a recent controversial speech by the country's president against its migrant population sparked a series of violent attacks, pushing people to risk the voyage.
On Sunday, 29 migrants were killed in two shipwrecks off the coast of Tunisia.
Another 12 people were killed in shipwrecks on Friday in international waters off Malta.
Tunisia claimed to have stopped the departure of more than 70 boats over the weekend.
Watch the report above to find out more.
The recent controversial speech by the country's President
Euronews
Sun, 26 March 2023
In the past 48 hours, more than 4000 migrants have reached Southern Italy - a new record - with some 2,000 people disembarking on the island of Lampedusa alone.
According to government figures, arrivals have tripled in the first three months of 2023.
So far this year, more than 20,000 migrants landed on Italian shores. Some 6,500 people arrived in Italy during the same period in 2022.
Crossing the Mediterranean is the most dangerous migration route in the world, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
Migrants are often crowded into unsafe, rickety rafts, which are prone to sinking, while the Italian coastguard has been accused of deliberately delaying rescues - something it denies.
More than 26,000 migrants have either died or gone missing in the sea since 2014.
30 people drown 'due to non-assistance' by Italy coastguard, alleges monitor
Italy and Malta have seen the number of boats travelling in the central Mediterranean multiply this weekend.
Most of the recent migrants set out from Tunisia, where a recent controversial speech by the country's president against its migrant population sparked a series of violent attacks, pushing people to risk the voyage.
On Sunday, 29 migrants were killed in two shipwrecks off the coast of Tunisia.
Another 12 people were killed in shipwrecks on Friday in international waters off Malta.
Tunisia claimed to have stopped the departure of more than 70 boats over the weekend.
Watch the report above to find out more.
Italy detains rescue ship ‘Louise Michel’ in Lampedusa for violating safe harbour migration law
Story by Barbara O’Sullivan • Yesterday
The maritime authorities of the Italian island of Lampedusa have proceeded to detain the rescue vessel 'Louise Michel' for violating the safe harbor regulations stipulated by Italian law, the Italian Coast Guard has learned in a statement.
Archive - The 'Louise Michel' rescue ship - Europa Press/Contacto/Lmp© Provided by News 360
The detention of the ship occurred during the disembarkation of about 180 migrants saved in at least three operations carried out during the previous days.
The law stipulates in this regard that NGO rescue ships operating in the central Mediterranean must proceed to safe harbor the moment they receive permission to do so and in no way carry out additional rescues thereafter.
On its Twitter account, the NGO acknowledged having received safe harbor on up to two occasions but argued that the gravity of the situation in the area led its crew to make additional rescues.
''The instructions given to the NGO ship, considering its small size,'' the Coast Guard explained, ''were also aimed at preventing it from embarking a number of people that would endanger both its safety and that of the migrant boats it would be assisting.''
The authorities add that the law is aimed, above all, at not overloading the concession permits and thus facilitating the management of new arrivals.
''To this behavior, which already complicated the delicate work of rescue coordination, were added the continuous calls from NGO aircraft that overloaded the communication systems of the national rescue coordination center,'' the coastguards add.
Related video: Record-breaking number of migrants reach Italy in 48 hours (Euronews)
Duration 1:00 Euronews View on Watch
ReutersOver 700 migrants rescued off Italy’s coast
0:23
ReutersMigrants at sea rescued by Italian coastguard boats
0:48
DailymotionAt least 45 bodies recovered after destroyed migrant boat washes up in southern Italy
0:47
The organization, for its part, denounces that the Rescue Coordination Center put pressure on the ship's crew on several occasions to refrain from further operations and has denounced that an Italian coastguard patrol ignored the migrants' pleas during one of the rescue procedures.
''The European authorities are fully aware of the people in distress in their rescue and rescue waters. Yet they prevent this ship from leaving port and providing assistance. Lives such as those lost in shipwrecks are neither an accident nor a tragedy. They are looking for it to happen,'' the organization lamented.
About 3,000 migrants have been rescued or have reached the Italian coasts since Friday, according to official estimates collected by the RAI channel.
PERSECUTION AGAINST THE 'OCEAN VIKING' On the other hand, the Italian Coast Guard has disavowed any responsibility in the incident that occurred on Saturday around the rescue boat 'Ocean Viking' of the NGO SOS Mediterranée, whose crew members claim to have been chased by the Libyan Coast Guard, who even fired shots in the air, during a rescue operation.
According to the organization's account, a Libyan patrol boat interfered in the rescue of 80 migrants in distress and began to pursue the 'Ocean Viking'. SOS Mediterranée denounces that the coast guard ''fired shots in the air'' to drive their ship away from the area.
The Seabird 2 aircraft, operated by the NGO Sea Watch, captured the entire incident, which ended with the forced return to Libya of the 80 intercepted migrants.
In this regard, the Italian Coast Guard argues that the operation of the Ocean Viking was not communicated to the flag country as required by the safety of navigation regulations, but to the Italian coordination center, continuously ''ending up also by overloading it in particularly intense moments due to the salvages in progress''.
It must be said that the governor of the Italian region of Lazio, Francesco Rocca, has condemned the interception of the Libyan coast guard against the 'Ocean Viking'.
''Shocking and worrying: the Libyan Coast Guard blocked a rescue operation of the 'Ocean Viking', getting dangerously close and firing several shots in the air,'' he has denounced on Twitter, where he has recalled that ''humanitarians are not a target'' and that ''saving lives is a humanitarian imperative and a legal obligation''.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS
Story by Barbara O’Sullivan • Yesterday
The maritime authorities of the Italian island of Lampedusa have proceeded to detain the rescue vessel 'Louise Michel' for violating the safe harbor regulations stipulated by Italian law, the Italian Coast Guard has learned in a statement.
Archive - The 'Louise Michel' rescue ship - Europa Press/Contacto/Lmp© Provided by News 360
The detention of the ship occurred during the disembarkation of about 180 migrants saved in at least three operations carried out during the previous days.
The law stipulates in this regard that NGO rescue ships operating in the central Mediterranean must proceed to safe harbor the moment they receive permission to do so and in no way carry out additional rescues thereafter.
On its Twitter account, the NGO acknowledged having received safe harbor on up to two occasions but argued that the gravity of the situation in the area led its crew to make additional rescues.
''The instructions given to the NGO ship, considering its small size,'' the Coast Guard explained, ''were also aimed at preventing it from embarking a number of people that would endanger both its safety and that of the migrant boats it would be assisting.''
The authorities add that the law is aimed, above all, at not overloading the concession permits and thus facilitating the management of new arrivals.
''To this behavior, which already complicated the delicate work of rescue coordination, were added the continuous calls from NGO aircraft that overloaded the communication systems of the national rescue coordination center,'' the coastguards add.
Related video: Record-breaking number of migrants reach Italy in 48 hours (Euronews)
Duration 1:00 Euronews View on Watch
ReutersOver 700 migrants rescued off Italy’s coast
0:23
ReutersMigrants at sea rescued by Italian coastguard boats
0:48
DailymotionAt least 45 bodies recovered after destroyed migrant boat washes up in southern Italy
0:47
The organization, for its part, denounces that the Rescue Coordination Center put pressure on the ship's crew on several occasions to refrain from further operations and has denounced that an Italian coastguard patrol ignored the migrants' pleas during one of the rescue procedures.
''The European authorities are fully aware of the people in distress in their rescue and rescue waters. Yet they prevent this ship from leaving port and providing assistance. Lives such as those lost in shipwrecks are neither an accident nor a tragedy. They are looking for it to happen,'' the organization lamented.
About 3,000 migrants have been rescued or have reached the Italian coasts since Friday, according to official estimates collected by the RAI channel.
PERSECUTION AGAINST THE 'OCEAN VIKING' On the other hand, the Italian Coast Guard has disavowed any responsibility in the incident that occurred on Saturday around the rescue boat 'Ocean Viking' of the NGO SOS Mediterranée, whose crew members claim to have been chased by the Libyan Coast Guard, who even fired shots in the air, during a rescue operation.
According to the organization's account, a Libyan patrol boat interfered in the rescue of 80 migrants in distress and began to pursue the 'Ocean Viking'. SOS Mediterranée denounces that the coast guard ''fired shots in the air'' to drive their ship away from the area.
The Seabird 2 aircraft, operated by the NGO Sea Watch, captured the entire incident, which ended with the forced return to Libya of the 80 intercepted migrants.
In this regard, the Italian Coast Guard argues that the operation of the Ocean Viking was not communicated to the flag country as required by the safety of navigation regulations, but to the Italian coordination center, continuously ''ending up also by overloading it in particularly intense moments due to the salvages in progress''.
It must be said that the governor of the Italian region of Lazio, Francesco Rocca, has condemned the interception of the Libyan coast guard against the 'Ocean Viking'.
''Shocking and worrying: the Libyan Coast Guard blocked a rescue operation of the 'Ocean Viking', getting dangerously close and firing several shots in the air,'' he has denounced on Twitter, where he has recalled that ''humanitarians are not a target'' and that ''saving lives is a humanitarian imperative and a legal obligation''.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS
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