• Sicily, Musumeci orders the closure of all spaces for migrants
  • Migrants: 1,400 in Lampedusa. Mayor to Conte: "How many still have to arrive?"

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23 August 2020 By midnight tomorrow, all migrants present in the hot-spots and in every reception center in Sicily will have to be transferred to structures outside the island without delay. This is what the ordinance signed by the Sicilian Governor Nello Musumeci provides. "The ordinance was published last night - writes Musumeci himself - Today it will be notified to all the prefectures of the island and to the national government. Sicily cannot be invaded, while Europe turns to the other side and the government it does not activate any rejection. I'll keep you updated later. "

The measure was taken - explains Musumeci - because "currently it is not possible to guarantee a stay on the island in compliance with the health measures to prevent contagion".
"The Sicilian Region, through the territorially competent ASPs, - continues the ordinance - makes available to the national authorities the personnel necessary for health checks to allow the transfer of migrants in safety". The 33-page provision signed by Musumeci also states that "in order to protect and guarantee public health and safety, in the absence of suitable reception facilities, it is forbidden to enter, transit and stop in the territory of the Sicilian Region by every migrant who reaches the Sicilian coasts with large and small boats, including those of NGOs "" Failure to comply with the obligations set out in this ordinance entails the sanctioning consequences provided for by the law in force ", he concludes.

The signing of the order follows the announcement made yesterday by the president of the region. "Sicily cannot continue to suffer this invasion of migrants. In a few hours, the order with which I order the evacuation of all the existing Hotspots and Reception Centers will be on my table. An airlift is activated immediately and the Sicily from these shameful structures, starting with Lampedusa ", Musimeci had declared in light of the high number of Coronavirus positive migrants landed in Sicily. "The European and national rules have been torn apart. Europe pretends nothing has happened and the national government has decided - despite our appeals - not to implement the current decrees and not to close the ports, as it did last year with the Interior-Defense-Transport inter-ministerial decree. There is a guilty underestimation of the unprecedented phenomenon. And they don't understand how much tension is growing. Do they want to make Sicilians, who are the most welcoming people in the world, racist? Now if they want to in Rome, may they also challenge my order. Enough: we had too much institutional respect for this emergency, reciprocated by silence, indifference and omissions "