Mike Vickers' Blog

I cannot support Salvini’s action and his sarcasm, to me, is ‘unfortunate’.

Corriere della Sera and Italian news agencies reported that 108 people were picked up by the tanker Elhiblu 1, and hijacked the vessel when it became clear that it planned to take them back to Libya.

Six nautical miles from Tripoli it suddenly changed course and headed north towards Europe. Migrants in Libya face trafficking, kidnap, torture and rape, according to the United Nations and aid groups.

“These are not migrants in distress, they are pirates, they will only see Italy through a telescope,” said Italy’s far-right deputy PM, Matteo Salvini, who has cracked down on migrants, including closing Italy’s ports to NGO rescue boats, since he took office in June last year.

Salvini said that Italy’s ports would remain close. “Poor castaways, who hijack a merchant ship that saved them because they want to decide the route of the cruise,” he said with sarcasm, according to the Ansa press agency.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/27/rescued-migrants-hijack-merchant-ship-off-libya

There has to be extenuating circumstances for ‘hijacking’ and I see this action is one such.

Nevertheless, the EU must come together and work as a whole, on immigrant entry to Europe. Italy and Greece are on the Frontiers of Europe.

And I despise Theresa May, in particular, for her specific action of rejection of all immigrants coming through Europe to the UK for unaccompanied children.