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Boat carrying migrants defies Matteo Salvini's veto and reaches Italian island
Source: The Guardian
Boat carrying migrants defies Matteo Salvini's veto and reaches Italian island
Sea-Watch has arrived at Lampedusa after two-week standoff with government
Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo
Wed 26 Jun 2019 18.51 BST
After a two-week stand-off with Italian authorities a humanitarian ship carrying 42 migrants has reached the Sicilian island of Lampedusa in defiance of a ban by the country’s hard-line interior minister, Matteo Salvini.
Carola Rackete, the captain of the Sea Watch, a German NGO, said on Wednesday she was determined to risk entering the port because the situation on board the Dutch-flagged ship was “now more desperate than ever”.
Salvini, who has closed Italian waters to NGO rescue vessels leaving several boats stranded at sea for weeks, said in a Facebook video his patience had run out. “We will use every lawful means to stop an outlaw ship, which puts dozens of migrants at risk for a dirty political game,” he said. “This has broken my balls.”
In a video released by Sea-Watch, Rackete said: “I know this is risky and that I will probably lose the boat, but the 42 shipwrecked on board are exhausted. I will bring them to safety.”
-snip-
Sea-Watch has arrived at Lampedusa after two-week standoff with government
Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo
Wed 26 Jun 2019 18.51 BST
After a two-week stand-off with Italian authorities a humanitarian ship carrying 42 migrants has reached the Sicilian island of Lampedusa in defiance of a ban by the country’s hard-line interior minister, Matteo Salvini.
Carola Rackete, the captain of the Sea Watch, a German NGO, said on Wednesday she was determined to risk entering the port because the situation on board the Dutch-flagged ship was “now more desperate than ever”.
Salvini, who has closed Italian waters to NGO rescue vessels leaving several boats stranded at sea for weeks, said in a Facebook video his patience had run out. “We will use every lawful means to stop an outlaw ship, which puts dozens of migrants at risk for a dirty political game,” he said. “This has broken my balls.”
In a video released by Sea-Watch, Rackete said: “I know this is risky and that I will probably lose the boat, but the 42 shipwrecked on board are exhausted. I will bring them to safety.”
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/26/ngo-boat-carrying-migrants-defies-matteo-salvini-veto-lampedusa-italy
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