As also reported by Magyar Nemzet, the situation is unsustainable on the Italian island of Lampedusa, with migrants reaching its shores en masse.
Tensions between Red Cross staff and migrants at the Lampedusa migrant camp continue to escalate, with renewed rioting among migrants who have had enough of waiting to be transferred to mainland Italy, according to the latest press reports.
Law enforcement officials and Red Cross staff have explained that everyone is being moved to a reception center offering adequate conditions, but moving crowds of people is a complicated task, with thousands of migrants having to be transported daily by local boat services.
The island's residents are also finding it increasingly difficult to tolerate the massive migrant influx. They have blocked with trucks Vittorio Emanuele and Ariosto roads, signaling that they will not back down until the government ensures that migration takes place on routes bypassing the island, and demanding ships to be sent to the coast to immediately transport new arrivals to the mainland.
The demonstration aims to draw the attention of Italy and Europe to the unsustainable situation and to voice their readiness to do everything possible to prevent the setting up of another tent camp. On Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets to demand a solution to the situation.
Local residents said they are not afraid of Giorgia Meloni or Ursula von der Leyen, calling on the politicians to see for themselves the dramatic conditions.
On Friday and Saturday, shops were closed, as families with their children and elderly people took to the streets to show that they were ready to do anything to protect the island's peace and order.
If the government sets up a tent camp to expand capacities to receive migrants, they will move from the island, locals said desperately.
„Let's save our homes, let's save our country" is the slogan calling on residents to protest.
A new tent camp would in fact be set up to accommodate an increased number of police forces on Lampedusa, with the hot spot being located in the harbor of Porto Empedocle on the island of Sicily.
Building a new reception center on the island of Lampedusa is out of the question, said Filippo Romano, prefect of Agrigento, to reassure residents.
According to official figures from the Interior Ministry, 127,207 illegal immigrants have reached Italy's shores on routes across the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year. In the last four days, 11 485 people have arrived.
Cover photo: Illegal immigrants wait in the port of Lampedusa to be transferred to the warship Cassiopea for further transport to other parts of Italy on September 15, 2023. (Photo: MTI/EPA/ANSA/Ciro Fusco)
