Status: 09.11.2022 02:41 am
In the port of Catania, dramatic scenes take place among boat migrants. Men go on hunger strike. German rescuers call courts. A captain finds clear words. Italy initially remains tough – before there is still redeeming news in the evening.
Joy and sorrow are only a few nautical miles and a few hours apart off the southern Italian coast. While almost 250 people on two ships in the port of Catania were desperately waiting to finally be let off board, the crew of the German “Rise Above” brought all 89 migrants ashore.
On Tuesday morning, the women, men and children left the Mission Lifeline boat in the port of Reggio Calabria. Now the “political hostage-taking” on the other ships must also be ended, the Dresden association tweeted.
Migrants also leave “Humanity 1” and “Geo Barents”
In the evening it was time. After two days of waiting, the Italian authorities allowed 35 people from the German “Humanity 1” and 213 from the Norwegian “Geo Barents” to disembark. Unlike at the weekend, medical reasons would have spoken for it.
“Rescue complete,” reported a MSF worker to cheers from the crew. Shortly thereafter, Petra Krischok from the German association SOS Humanity confirmed that all the rescued were on land.
Hunger strike on the “Humanity 1”
Two weeks after the ultra-right government took office, the first major conflict between the anti-immigrant right-wing coalition and international sea rescuers escalated in some cases. Rome had asked the two organizations to leave Catania with their ships and the many people who had been saved. Both refused.
Around 30 of the 35 migrants on the German “Humanity 1” went on hunger strike. The men told the crew that they had not eaten for 40 hours and that the public should know. The situation on board had deteriorated.
“Applicable law is being trampled on,” said captain Joachim Ebeling. “When I see that I have people on board who have the right to go ashore but are prevented from doing so by the authorities, I just get angry.” The Bremen resident emphasized that he would only move the ship when all migrants were on land.
Almost all of the remaining migrants on the “Humanity 1” have gone on a hunger strike.
Image: REUTERS
SOS Humanity submits urgent asylum applications
It was initially unclear on Tuesday evening how things will continue. The crew had previously tried to encourage the 35 men and allay their fears that they could be taken to Libya, where they had started their crossing in boats. Many said they would rather drown than have to go back to civil war land.
The organization SOS Humanity has already taken legal action. At a court in Catania, urgent asylum applications were made for the 35 migrants. A lawyer also lodged a complaint with the administrative court in Rome against a decree by the interior ministry of the new Italian government. The decree stipulates that the “Humanity 1” must leave Italian waters and take with it all migrants who are not in an emergency situation.