The Eleonore is run by German NGO Lifeline but League party leader Salvini has closed Italy’s ports to NGO-run migrant rescue ships. There have since been several standoffs which have ended with the European Union agreeing to take the migrants.
Salvini signed off a decree prohibiting the entry, transit and stopping of the Eleonore in Italian waters and the measure has already been sent to the Italian Defence and Transport Ministers.
Both Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta as well as Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli signed a decree banning the ship from entering Italian waters.
The vessel is carrying 101 migrants it picked from the coast off Libya.
The Interior Ministry said “the government has recovered its unity” on banning the Eleonore. Democratic Party (PD) member Matteo Orfini accused Trenta of being a tool for Salvini. “Trenta is with Salvini and [outgoing Premier Giuseppe] Conte is silent”, Orfini complained.
He said that Conte must disown “these inhuman policies” if he is to lead a possible new M5S-PD coalition government.
But the uncle of crime victim, the 18-year-old Pamela Mastropietro, “who was raped, murdered and dismembered by a Nigerian ‘cannibal mafia’ in the Italian town of Macerata,” has threatened to release “photos of her dismembered body to the Italian parliament if the country’s new government repeals Matteo Salvini’s strict immigration laws”.
Some 78 Syrian and Bangladeshi migrants have meanwhile landed on Lampedusa without any alert being sounded on Thursday. The migrants said they had left Libya on Monday.
These so-called “ghost landings” have been continuing unabated despite Salvini’s strict policy of closing Italy’s ports to NGO run migrant rescue ships. They were taken to the island’s hotspot, at Contrada Imbriacola.
According to a 2013 report, “undocumented immigrants are responsible for the vast majority of crimes committed in Italy by immigrants… the share of undocumented immigrants varies between 60 and 70 percent for violent crimes, and it increases to 70–85 for property crime”.
The 2013 report noted that “immigrants accounted for almost 23 percent of the criminal charges although they represented only 6‐7 percent of the resident population” in 2010.
Last year, Italian figures showed a substantial rise in the number of crimes committed by foreigners, who now account for 31,9 percent of criminal suspects despite only making up eight percent of the general population.
The new figures, which were released by the Italian Interior Ministry, revealed that in the first six months of 2018 crime stats were up from 27,4 percent for the same period last year, Il Giornale reported.
In the Naples area, an elderly retired 80-year-old Italian pensioner from Trecase was found by his son this morning, tied to his bed and in severe shock after two migrants attacked him during the night.
The son became worried because he had not heard from his father. He rushed to his father’s house and found him stunned and injured after the robbery.
The 80-year-old said two foreigners, broke into his apartment, taking him by surprise. The robbers tied his hands to the bed and they ransacked the entire house, taking money in cash found in the drawers of the home.
The elderly man was left in the same state for more than 24 hours. He has been admitted to hospital. The local station carabinieri are investigating the incident.
A month ago, in Rome, a similar robbery made the headlines. An elderly man was tied up and tortured in his own home. The 85-year-old was gagged and tortured for two days after being robbed of a small amount of money. The investigators are looking for his tormentor, also a foreign suspect.
