Migrants: threat of strike in Lampedusa from this Monday against the silence of Rome

Nearly 15,000 migrants have landed in Lampedusa since the start of the year, compared to less than 4,000 during the same period in 2019. FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP

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2 min

The authorities and the 5,828 inhabitants of the Sicilian island feel overwhelmed and abandoned. Nearly 15,000 migrants have landed there since the start of the year, compared to less than 4,000 during the same period in 2019. Faced with the inertia of the government, after around thirty boat arrivals over the weekend. end, and that of 49 fragile migrants recovered by the coast guard aboard the Louise Michel, the mayor of Lampedusa, Totò Martello, wants to declare a general strike from this Monday.

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With our correspondent in Rome, Anne Le Nir

The latest arrivals are those of 370 migrants aboard an old 300-tonne fishing boat that has not been intercepted at sea by Frontex, the European border agency. The boat was rescued at the last minute by the Lampedusa coast guard.

But now the small island can no longer accommodate dozens of boats a day, mainly from the Tunisian coast. The reception center currently houses 1,400 migrants with a maximum capacity of 200 places. And the government is hiding in silence. Hence this unprecedented threat from the mayor of Lampedusa Totò Martello, a leftist elected in 2017: "  If the government has decided that Lampedusa must become a hub, we will start a general strike and we will even refuse to allow the boats to dock, refuse the docking of boats.  "

Rome did not react further to the accident of a migrant boat whose engine exploded off Crotone, in Calabria, killing 3 among the 34 passengers, and several injured including two police officers who took part in the rescue operations .

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  • Italy
  • International Migration
  • European Union

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