Rome, Italy: Tensions are rising on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where dozens of refugees and migrants have continued to arrive despite a recent government order closing domestic ports to international charity refugee boats wishing to dock.
Italian ministers on Tuesday ruled that at least until July 31, for the duration of the national health emergency sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, domestic ports can no longer be considered a “place of safety” – a move which caused concern among some refugee rights groups.
But although international rescue vessels such as the Alan Kurdi are being kept offshore by this new measure, small ships setting sail from Libya and Tunisia have continued to arrive towards the the Italian coastline.
“We cannot stop migrants: if they set sail, it means that they have to dock somewhere,” Salvatore Martello, the anti-migration mayor of Lampedusa, told Al Jazeera.
Lampedusa is Italy’s southernmost island, closer to Tunisia than to Sicily. Three wooden boats, carrying 34, 67 and 57 asylum seekers, have disembarked on the island this week. Italy requires all arrivals to undergo a two-week quarantine.
When the first 34 refugees docked on Monday, before the new restrictions at the ports, they went into quarantine at a local reception centre, which can host a maximum 96 people in normal times. After social distancing became a requirement for every public facility, there is even less room available.
But the next arrivals, who came after the new measures were in place, were made to wait the whole night in the harbour. Half were subsequently let into the centre, while the others were transferred to the mainland on a regular ferry line.
