Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Tuesday that 47 migrants rescued at sea by an NGO can disembark if they agree to leave for Germany or the Netherlands.
The Dutch-flagged Sea Watch 3 ship, operated by the German charity Sea Watch, picked up the migrants and asylum-seekers – including eight minors – on January 19 off the coast of Libya as they made the treacherous Mediterranean crossing.
It is currently sheltering from bad weather off Sicily.
Since then Malta and Italy, the nearest European Union countries, have refused to let them dock.
The Netherlands on Monday refused a request by Italy to take them in.
Salvini has made the closure of Italian ports to migrants a keystone of his policies as interior minister.
Italy has allowed the ship to shelter off the coast of Sicily but has refused to let them disembark.
EU rules task the country where migrants land with responsibility for dealing with asylum claims.
The Italian authority that guarantees the rights of detainees denounced Monday the “illegal detention” of the 47 migrants.
On Monday evening, several thousand people gathered in the rain in front of the Parliament in Rome to demand an end to Salvini’s…
