EUROPE-MIGRANTS/ROME Italians help migrants in Rome as they wait to continue their journeys

Record ID: 151225

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/ROME Italians help migrants in Rome as they wait to continue their journeys
  • Date: 15th June 2015
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (JUNE 15, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS SITTING ON PAVEMENT AND WALKING NEAR HOLDING CENTRE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM ETHIOPIA, JAMAL IBRAHIM, SAYING: 'Because I like to go (join) my brother in Germany or in Norway. For example, I am (inaudible). I'd like to go to Norway.'' (SOUNDBITE) (English) ERITREAN MIGRANT, JONAS DANIEL, SAYING: ''I need to
  • Embargoed: 30th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3Z3K7EQTQB9EN58U55K619BRC
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds of migrants brought to Italy after being rescued at sea continued to be blocked at train and coach stations in Rome and Milan on Monday (June 15) after leaving immigration centres to try to reach Northern Europe.
    Mostly Eritrean, Ethiopian and Somali migrants have found temporary shelter in the Baobab holding centre near Rome's Tiburtina station.
    Some play soccer in the streets, others sit and chat at the side of the road leading to the centre with their few belongings in plastic bags piled up next to them.
    Migrants often head north after landing in boats on Italy's southern shores, hoping to make it to Germany or Scandinavian countries with stronger economies and generous welfare benefits.
    Some have relatives already there.
    "I like to go (join) my brother in Germany or in Norway. I'd like to go to Norway," said Jamal Ibrahim, a migrant from Ethiopia.
    ''I need to go to Denmark to challenge my life by learning, to work on other things, to challenge your life by learning," said Eritrean migrant Jonas Daniel.
    A shipwreck that killed some 800 migrants in April prompted European Union countries to triple funding for rescue missions in the Mediterranean to help Greek and Italian authorities cope with thousands of arrivals each month.
    To further ease the burden on southern countries, the 28-nation EU has proposed redistributing tens of thousands of migrants among its member states.
    But while most of Europe agrees more needs to be done to rescue people at sea, the EU is deeply at odds over how to cope with them once they are ashore - a divide that reflects both the difficulties of European policy making and the rising tide of anti-immigration sentiment sweeping the continent.
    In Rome, some locals living near the Tiburtina station had expressed worry at the growing number of migrants in the area but others helped them by giving them food.
    ''I live a street away, I feel for them'' said Rome resident Stefania Tinto, who stopped on her bike to give sweets to a migrant child. ''There is little to say or discuss, one just has to look at their faces. I don't even want to go into the question of what is happening and so on, but if I look around me, all I see is the smile of a kid I gave sweets to.''
    Shaida Ben Rabak, a Tunisian who has lived in Italy for 30 years, stood on the pavement by the centre to hand out some freshly baked bread to migrants.
    ''I give bread to the poor, even though I am poor myself. I make the bread. I, the poor, help the poor. The rich do not help the poor.,' she said.
    EU countries are struggling to stem the flow of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East and to share the burden more evenly across the continent, after more than 50,000 people reached Italy so far this year and almost 2,000 drowned in the attempt.
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