ITALY: Authorities say their holding centre for Tunisian immigrants fleeing their country after the uprising is overflowing

Record ID: 348359

  • Title: ITALY: Authorities say their holding centre for Tunisian immigrants fleeing their country after the uprising is overflowing
  • Date: 15th February 2011
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (FEBRUARY 14, 2011) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARIO MARAZZITI SPOKESMAN FOR THE COMMUNITY OF SANT'EGIDIO, SAYING "I think that it is huge and probably it is going to be huge. It is something similar to Albania, the old Albania situation. I think that many come for hope, some probably escaped because they have real problems and they do not know what the
  • Embargoed: 2nd March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA7093FWUZRSQ3VJY08PRDKXVJ4
  • Story Text: There has been a steady stream of Tunisian immigrants flowing, by boat, to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa over the past few days and authorities on Monday (February 14) say they expect more to come. They say they can't cope and they need help.
    The Italian government already declared a state of humanitarian emergency and asked for the EU's assistance in blocking their arrival.
    There are reports that 3,000 of them came over the weekend with nearly 1,000 landing overnight on Sunday.
    A mothballed holding camp in Lampedusa was re-opened to house the Tunisians but capacity is limited to 850 people. It is now overflowing.
    The spokesman for Rome's Sant' Egidio Community, which has been nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize for its work with the poor, says it doesn't look like the Tunisian migrants, whose country overthrew the president last month in a popular revolt, will stop coming.
    He was not sure why the Tunisians were coming in or what they were running away from but said some feared persecution after the Tunisian ruling family and their supporters were chased out last month.
    "I think that it is huge and probably it is going to be huge. It is something similar to Albania, the old Albania situation. I think that many come for hope, some probably escaped because they have real problems and they do not know what the situation will be. So they may be persecuted now or in the future and maybe others for other reasons. I think this is not something that is going to stop immediately," says the spokesman, Mario Marazzitti.
    Italy called on the EU to help with patrol boats it wants to station near the Tunisian coast to intercept migrants.
    Lampedusa is a Sicilian island closer to Africa than mainland Italy.
    "I think that it is correct that in an international crisis now we have to find immediately a European table and decide who can help Italy to bear this weight," Marazziti said.
    "Of course we have to see case by case who these individuals are and this is the right way that Europe can help the transition in the Maghreb," he said.
    Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has blamed the new exodus on Tunisia's inability to enforce bilateral accords on curbing illegal immigration after weeks of protests forced President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee last month.
    Most of the migrants at the camp on Lampedusa say they are in need of work in order to support their families.
    "I need to work, I have a mother and a father and we have no money to eat," said a migrant speaking to journalists through the fence.
    "I come from Tunisia, everyone you see here comes from Tunisia, we are all afraid after the revolution that has taken place because nothing has changed up until now," said a thrity-one-year-old migrant in the camp.
    "All of us here, we are not asking for anything, we only ask for a possibility to find work in Europe," he said.
    Officials are also worried that the crisis in Egypt, where protesters have launched an uprising against President Hosni Mubarak, will provoke another wave of migrant arrivals.
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