Migrants rescued on the Louise Michel, the rescue boat chartered by Banksy.

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Santi Palacios / AP / SIPA

  • Saturday, Michèle Rubirola, the mayor of Marseille, and Benoit Payan, his first deputy, announced that they were ready to open their port to Louise Michel.

  • This boat chartered by the artist Banksy to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean launched several calls for help this weekend, which remained unanswered.

  • The authorities of Lampedusa and the Sea Watch 4 were finally able to recover the many castaways saved by the Louise Michel on Saturday evening.

A position that did not fail to react.

Michèle Rubirola, the new mayor of Marseille from a left-wing majority, and Benoit Payan, his first deputy, announced on Saturday that they were ready to open the port of Marseille if the Louise Michel, this rescue boat in the Mediterranean chartered by artist Banksy, requested it.

The ship made several appeals for help last weekend, after rescuing 219 people in the Mediterranean.

Calls long gone unanswered.

“After the first 'mayday', the authorities in Lampedusa told us that it was not their responsibility.

The situation was appalling when we got to their boat.

The 10 crew of the Louise Michel told us that they had never seen this, although they are familiar with this kind of rescue.

The men stood on the edge of the boat, the women and children bathed in the middle, in a mixture of sea water and diesel.

They were covered with burns.

There was also a corpse on board.

And they explained to us that three other people had drowned ”, testifies Marie, member of the support team remained at the quay.

Limited room for maneuver

Faced with this situation, the crew decided to transfer as many people as possible aboard the Louise Michel, before placing them on a life raft with food and water.

"The Louise Michel found herself unable to maneuver because of the towing of the liferaft, but at no time did the boat endanger itself," explains Marie.

The migrants were discovered on this boat, with women and children burned by the mixture of sea water and diesel.

A corpse was also on board.

- Santi Palacios / AP / SIPA

Without warning anyone, the authorities on the Italian island of Lampedusa finally came to collect the 49 worst-injured survivors on Saturday, before the others were transferred aboard the Sea Watch 4.

Could the position of the leaders of Marseille change these situations in which rescue boats find themselves, when most ports are reluctant to welcome them?

Marie recalls maritime law, which the crew of the Louise Michel follows as a rule: "it provides for the boat to land in the nearest port".

In this precise situation, Marseille was at the other end of the Mediterranean.

And the municipality does not in any case have the possibility of making this decision alone, the French ports being under the supervision of the State.

"We don't let people drown at sea"

"This situation calls for a responsibility, if the Louise Michel is in distress and he asks us to come to Marseille, we open the port", retorts Benoit Payan.

For Marie, this position has the merit of reopening the debate, but the question of the host port hides another.

"The real problem lies in the distribution between countries of the people rescued rather than at the reception port," she explains.

“Italy alone takes charge of these people rescued off the Libyan coast and Lampedusa, this is no longer possible.

The French state must seize this situation ”, estimates Benoit Payan.

But since their position taken over the weekend, "the presidency of the Republic has not manifested itself", says Benoit Payan, who gives a layer: "If the Louise Michel requests it, our port remains open .

Whatever the color of the skin, we do not let people drown at sea ”.

Around 300 migrants have already perished in 2020 while crossing the Mediterranean, but the International Organization for Migration estimates that the figure could be much higher.

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  • Mediterranean

  • Banksy

  • Marseilles

  • Migrants

  • Rescue

  • Society