Lampedusa deportation centre burns
Chiara | 21.09.2011 22:43 | Anti-racism | Migration
20-09-2001 A group of Tunisians in revolt set fire to the deportation centre of Contrada Imbriacola that is destroyed by the flames, some suffer from smoke inhalation but none seriously. Most of the migrants escape on the island and spend the night sleeping rough.
The morning after Tunisians who are demonstating clash with riot police who attack them.
A group of Tunisians are pelted with stones by local people, after they threaten to set fire to some gas bottles near a petrol station.
A dozen Tunisians are taken to the clinic of the island with various bruises, one is badly injuried and is transferred to Palermo hospital.
Two policemen and a custom officer are also taken to the clinic.
Some journalists are also attacked by locals, none hurt.
The mayor of Lampedusa, Bernardino de Rubeis, is also attacked by some locals who accuse him of being too 'soft' on migrants. He locks himself in his office, under police escort, arms himself with a baseball bat and comes out with some funny declarations that he is ready to use the baseball bat to defend himself and the Tunisians are bad people and should all be deported immediately back to Tunis.
This is the result of the hard-line policy of the Interior Minister, Roberto Maroni, Lega Nord, to speed up deportations to Tunis and keep the Tunisians on the island, crammed in the detention centre in inhumane conditions, with insufficient food and even water.
Arrivals from Lybia have almost stopped, arrivals from Tunisia have resumed.
The inhabitant of Lampedusa, traditionally sympathetic towards refugees, are totally exasperated. Thousands of refugees and migrants have been kept on the island, transformed in one concentration camp, for months on end since the new wave of arrivals from Tunisia and Lybia. Tourism, the main source of income for the locals, has dropped of 70%. They feel abandoned by the Italian government, betrayed by Europe.
200 Tunisians were transferred by military aircraft to the airbase of Sigonella, leaving still more than 1400 on the island. Some sleep in the football stadium, some in the port. 100 migrants including 20 women sleep in the only building left in the centre, but it is badly damaged. More transfers are underway.
http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/associata/2011/09/20/visualizza_new.html_701022257.html
http://www3.lastampa.it/cronache/sezioni/articolo/lstp/421235/
http://www.canicattiweb.com/2011/09/21/lampedusa-bruciato-da-un-gruppo-di-migranti-tunisini-il-centro-di-accoglienza-foto-e-video/
Over 2000 immigrants have died in the Medirerranean since the beginning of the year, the highest number ever, and these are only the deaths that were recorded, the real number is certainly much higher.
No Borders No Nations Stop Deportations!
The morning after Tunisians who are demonstating clash with riot police who attack them.
A group of Tunisians are pelted with stones by local people, after they threaten to set fire to some gas bottles near a petrol station.
A dozen Tunisians are taken to the clinic of the island with various bruises, one is badly injuried and is transferred to Palermo hospital.
Two policemen and a custom officer are also taken to the clinic.
Some journalists are also attacked by locals, none hurt.
The mayor of Lampedusa, Bernardino de Rubeis, is also attacked by some locals who accuse him of being too 'soft' on migrants. He locks himself in his office, under police escort, arms himself with a baseball bat and comes out with some funny declarations that he is ready to use the baseball bat to defend himself and the Tunisians are bad people and should all be deported immediately back to Tunis.
This is the result of the hard-line policy of the Interior Minister, Roberto Maroni, Lega Nord, to speed up deportations to Tunis and keep the Tunisians on the island, crammed in the detention centre in inhumane conditions, with insufficient food and even water.
Arrivals from Lybia have almost stopped, arrivals from Tunisia have resumed.
The inhabitant of Lampedusa, traditionally sympathetic towards refugees, are totally exasperated. Thousands of refugees and migrants have been kept on the island, transformed in one concentration camp, for months on end since the new wave of arrivals from Tunisia and Lybia. Tourism, the main source of income for the locals, has dropped of 70%. They feel abandoned by the Italian government, betrayed by Europe.
200 Tunisians were transferred by military aircraft to the airbase of Sigonella, leaving still more than 1400 on the island. Some sleep in the football stadium, some in the port. 100 migrants including 20 women sleep in the only building left in the centre, but it is badly damaged. More transfers are underway.
http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/associata/2011/09/20/visualizza_new.html_701022257.html http://www3.lastampa.it/cronache/sezioni/articolo/lstp/421235/ http://www.canicattiweb.com/2011/09/21/lampedusa-bruciato-da-un-gruppo-di-migranti-tunisini-il-centro-di-accoglienza-foto-e-video/ Over 2000 immigrants have died in the Medirerranean since the beginning of the year, the highest number ever, and these are only the deaths that were recorded, the real number is certainly much higher.
No Borders No Nations Stop Deportations!
Chiara