League party leader Matteo Salvini posted a video to Facebook and Twitter showing migrants arriving by boat at the Italian island of Lampedusa carrying smartphones, a poodle, and leisurely smoking cigarettes, with many of them dressed as if they were going on vacation.
In the video he posted to Facebook, which already has 3 million views, he wrote, “Here is the degree of ridicule and humiliation of Italy and the Italians this bankrupt government is causing us. We are now a joke abroad.”
He also wrote on Twitter, “Cigarette, straw hat and a poodle on a leash. Are we serious?”
NUOVO SBARCO OGGI A LAMPEDUSA.
SIAMO SU SCHERZI A PARTE? pic.twitter.com/cwCTWGvdAC
— Noi con Salvini (@Noiconsalvini) July 27, 2020
Users on Facebook also shared their frustration with what they feel is an uncontrolled migration crisis in both Italy and Europe.
“Nice nail polish, doggy, hat, phone, sunglasses — nothing is missing for a nice holiday for free. Government doesn’t protect its countrymen because it’s absurd to accept this and pretend not to see it,” wrote Raffa Paola.
Other users pointed out that the boat, which arrived at Lampedusa on July 27, was almost entirely full of young men and mostly devoid of women and children.
Italian daily Corriere della Sera, citing Italian intelligence sources, said that an estimated 10,000 migrants in Tunisia are waiting for a chance to reach Italy. Salvini has also previously warned that 20,000 are gathering planning to leave from Libya.
Hundreds of migrants escape from coronavirus quarantines
Meanwhile, the V4NA news agency reported that the migrant crisis and the associated public health conditions have deteriorated in southern Italy to the point that Minister of Interior Luciana Lamorgese went to Sicily on Tuesday to ascertain the conditions there firsthand.
While in Sicily, she announced that a quarantine ship capable of housing 1,000 people will be deployed to the shores of Sicily. She also promised to take the migrants currently in Lampedusa and Porto Empedocle to another location.
Last weekend in Sicily, over 700 migrants escaped from the Porto Empedocle and Caltanisetta migrant camps while under a mandatory two-week quarantine. Lamorgerse said that migrants arriving from Tunisia are the most troublesome, as they “will do anything to escape from quarantine”.
Dramatic video of the escape from was posted to social media.
Yesterday 184 illigal migrants escaped from the #Caltanissetta reception center.
Today another hundred escaped from the center of #PortoEmpedocle.
In the last 7 days, 2378 migrants arrived in #Lampedusa.@POTUS @SecPompeo @DanScavino#Lamorgesedimettitipic.twitter.com/ihXX2OfqGl
— Lile Starseed ? (@LileStarseed) July 27, 2020
As has been pointed out in the German press, most migrants who journey to Europe from across the Mediterranean are opportunistic economic migrants, many of whom do not appear to face real persecution that would necessitate asylum. Subsequently, 95 percent of their applications rejected are rejected in Germany.
