Dear Blog Readers –
With fears of terrorists hopping on boats and crossing the Mediterranean, suddenly Italy – which has been pulling migrants out of the sea by the thousands over the past year – is witnessing a strong backlash against migrants.
This weekend the leader of the right-wing anti-Euro, anti-Migrant Northern League led a massive rally in Rome denouncing the government of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and demanding that Italy’s immigration policy be changed.
Northern League leader Matteo Salvini called the government’s immigration policy a “disaster” and said they want to limit immigration “with every possible instrument.”
Mario Borghezio, a representative of the Northern League to the European Parliament, had harsher words to say, “…our proposal is to do a deep “cleaning” all around the country, and also in Europe of all the illegal migrants.” He went on to insist that his party as “no problem with asylum seekers who have the right to the asylum, but with the majority of immigrants, who are coming here to search for a job…should not be allowed to stay in or country. They should go home”
Deep Cleaning. That sounds a lot like ethnic cleansing.
Among the protesters were hundreds of members of the neo-fascist group Casa Pound. They marched to Piazza del Popolo through Rome’s Villa Borghese park wearing black shirts and waving Italian and anti-migrant flags under heavy police escort. My 14-year-old daughter was in the park with me as the Neo-Fascist procession passed and got angry “brutti fascisti — vattene via” (Ugly fascists, go away) she kept repeating under her breath until I urged her to go home and let me do my job.
Police estimated there were some 10,000 people in the Piazza and wandering among them I felt as though they were less extremist than some of their leaders. Their basic concern seemed to be the economy – jobs, taxes etc. Yuri Quaranta from Priverno, Italy voiced what many Italians say about the migrants arriving in Italy, “This is an invasion without precedent. Among the 150,000 migrants who arrived last year for sure there is at least one terrorist, one terrorist, among 150,000. I hope I am wrong”.
Although the Italian government of Prime Minister Renzi has repeated its position that it does not believe that terrorists are coming over on dinghies and other migrant ships, the concern continues to grow.
It did not help this month when some ISIS extremists began tweeting using the hashtag #We_are_coming_O_Rome If any of you blog readers want a laugh, go look at the reaction of the Romans on twitter with that hash tag. Romans have tweeted back warning the ISIS fighters that they will get their tanks stuck on the nightmare ring-road (the Raccordo Annulare) in traffic, they have offered to sell the fighters the Colosseum saying they will take credit cards, have warned them of the terrible pickpocket problem in the city, warned the terrorists not to wear white sneakers or they will stand out like tourists (the bella figura requires more elegant footwear), someone even invited them to attend one of Berlusconi’s bunga bunga parties, another invited the fighters to enjoy an “aperitivo” in the Eternal City. (I must admit, I think this is Romans at their best, instead of ringing their hands and drumming up the fear of terrorists, they are taking the twitter threat in stride).
Tweets aside, there is a threat that Italians are taking very seriously. Libya has descended into chaos, the horrific beheading of 21 Coptic Christians this month was a clear reminder of how close the madmen are and how brutal they can be.
As an indication of the government’s concern, Italy has moved a naval ship, reportedly with Special Force on board, off the Coast of Libya.
And the migrant boats continue to depart from Libya on a daily basis.
So, who are the migrants arriving in Italy? A quick look at figures provided by Italy’s Ministry of Interior show that a total of 170,100 migrants arrived by boats on the Italian coast in 2014. Of those migrants 13,096 were children. The national groups with the most arrivals were Syrians (42,323) and the second national group was Eritrean (25,155).
The figures on 2015 are less clear, but what we have so far is EU figures that show in January a total 5,600 migrants were saved making the crossing. Figures provided by the non-profit organization Save the Children show that between January 1st and February 20th 7,491 people made the crossing to Italy from Libya.
Friday evening I covered a counter-demonstration by Romans who are pro-migrant and did not want the Northern League to be given the beautiful, enormous Piazza del Popolo for their rally on Saturday.
This group, using rubber dinghies blocked the traffic on the Muro Torto – the main road running along the old Roman City wall. Three hundred protesters with rubber dinghies faced off against dozens of police in full riot gear. Eventually the police charged the protesters, whacking them with batons and lighting the dinghies on fire.
The protesters fled and the demonstration was dispersed. Several people were injured.
Needless to say the migrant question is just heating up in Italy.
In the meantime there was an interesting press release from Save the Children this week on some of the children who have arrived sadly caught in the middle in this dinghy debate.
According to Save the Children, as of February 22, there were 91 children at the holding center for migrants on Lampedusa, 3 from Somalia were accompanied and the remaining 88 unaccompanied. The breakdown is 45 from Eritrea, 16 from Somalia, 6 from Mali, 6 from Senegal, 5 from Gambia, 4 from Palestine, 3 from Benin and 1 from Nigeria.
The stories of what happens on these dinghies (and other migrant ships) are well known. The violence of the traffickers, the fear of drowning, people weak and dying, women giving birth, migrants so tightly packed in they cannot move — but from a perspective of a child it is even more frightening.
Save the Children tells of a 16-year-old boy watching traffickers push migrants into the sea because they are weak and ill, others speak of their fear or drowning because they do not know how to swim. Others have been hand-cuffed in detention cells in Libya until their families send the money for the crossing.
More on the children in another post, and more on the dinghy debate as it continues in Italy.
The article is great! I’m glad I was sick in bed yesterday instead of working in down town Rome with all that chaos!!!!
Sorry you are sick Massimo — but you are right — it was a bit chaotic!! Get well soon!
Thanks for keeping us informed on this on going (and universal) issue. I admire the stance the Italian government and people are taking. It is an issue every well off country has to contend with these days and ISIS is making it harder to be humane. Given the increase of surveillance and policing one has to fear that the terror groups are turning the US and others into much more authoritarian states. Big subject and we could go on. BUT please stay safe some of your photos suggest you are getting into the middle of things! I know you will never stay away but be careful and keep you daughter well back from the action. L/D
It is a huge subject with so many elements — migrants, economics, terrorism, policing etc etc. There is so much to think about. Don’t worry, I will stay safe. The other day during that rally that turned violent I was working with APTN cameraman Gianfranco Stara who has been covering these kind of street clashes for decades. He has a six sense — knows when to get in the middle, knows when to step back and smoke a cigarette, knows when to move behind police lines, knows when to film protesters. The stand-off with the police was going on for a while and I really wanted to head home because it was getting late and he told me not to go that the police were about to charge. He just could tell by the way they were lining up, getting into formation. I had no clue. Anyway, if I follow his lead, I manage to stay out of the mess. As far as Chiara and the fascists are concerned – it was fairly calm, but could have turned messy, so I she went home with a friend and a friend’s mother.
I cannot believe that these people make the treacherous crossings just on a whim, they are desperate for a better, safer, longer life and who are we to deny them that opportunity? A great post Trisha, I look forward to more!
Thank you Liz — you are right, they do not just cross on a whim, they are truly desperate, risking their lives, going into massive debt to pay for the crossing.
What a perplexing problem for everyone. Renzi is correct in that terrorists are most likely to come over postage paid on a commercial flight rather than on a dinghy. But I can absolutely see the Italian citizens’ concerns about the state being economically capable to sustain these migrants when Italy is treading water trying to sustains their own citizens. I can see the anger and frustration when so many are without jobs (especially the young). There really is no easy answer here.
There really is no easy answer and on the whole I think Italy has done an amazing job of saving and supporting these migrants, but things are beginning to get a bit tense here.
Deep cleaning. Just hearing that makes me cringe. How quickly people forget history. These poor immigrants want something to which every human being is entitled – dignity and a fair shake at attaining a good life for their families. Sadly, often instead of welcoming arms and a helping hand, they are greeted with clenched fists. Much of what I read here reminds me of our own situation in Southern California with regard to immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America. In your case you are very close to Africa and are the proverbial front line – as we are with our southern neighbors. What goes on in the dinghies is similar to what goes on in the close, cramped backs of trucks as these unfortunates make their way north to California. I can not imagine the suffering. Thank you for covering this story. If only we had an answer…
Thanks Adri. I would really like to go over to the US and cover the migrant story in Southern California. There are lots of similarities. And it is so sad when the children get caught in the middle. When I hear the stories of what the migrants have to go through just to reach those boats (crossing the desert, rape, starvation, beatings ) and then risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean, I realize that their lives must be hell back in their home countries.
. . the chickens are coming home to roost and Italy is the nearest coop! As for the facsists, they are in control/power in virtually every Western so-called ‘democracy’. Whilst the real rulers hide behind their ‘respectable’ front-man like Obomba, Cameron, et al – the stupid followers parade with their swastika flags and beat up and murder those who do not look or think like them from the streets of ‘Amerika’ to the Ukraine and beyond.
Thank you for sharing this Trisha. Scary times. Poor economies don’t bring out the best in anyone. My prayers are with the children and my hope is for their health and happiness where ever they are and land.
I agree with you Cyndy. A lot of the people I saw at the Northern League rally did not seem so fiercely anti-migrant, but they did seem very worried about their own jobs, pensions, future. It is all very complicated.
Indeed the children are the sadest part of the story just as here with the many, many unaccompanied children who crossed out border from Central America this past year. We have our own anti-immigrant group too but I am going to avoid the politics and sadness right now. And go on to say I enjoyed the tweets to the terrorists and read some even more enjoyable ones in another Italy- or Rome-related blog I read regulary. Of course, I can’t remember which one.
Thanks for an interesting article combining the serious and sad with the lighter touch.
A presto,
Thank you Joan, I am glad you liked the post. I would like to learn more about the immigrant situation in the US– I am so involved in the situation here but not well informed about what is happening on that side of the Atlantic.
Fabulously informative and entertaining blog – thank you!
Thank you Ilse, I am so glad you like it.
Such an arresting, horrifying, agonizing tale. Fascism does seem to be showing public face everywhere these days, though there are not yet openly fascistic political parties in the US or England, or I think, other parts of Europe. The hideous acts of terrorists are provoking the worst in all of us, from fear to reprisal in like kind. I do so agree with your take on the Roman response, and thank you for sharing the witty tweets. These arrogant murderers will not prevail for long, I do believe, but they are sowing much backlash hatred. A deeper question, which I hope some brave journalist with special skills is undertaking to answer, is where are they getting their money? Yes I know they collect some ransoms and sell some art they have stolen, but they are spending much more than that on weapons and army support. There have got to be some super rich men who are funding them. Who are enjoying this. Who hate the West (though must have made their money from us) enough to fund terror. Who are they, I wonder?
Meanwhile these poor people ,refugees from dreadful wars who should be welcomed with compassion, are being abused in so many ways. Keep on telling their stories, Trisha! You are their hope, for they have no other voice.
Thank you Nancy. You are right — some good investigative journalist needs to follow the money. Here were are still chasing the migrant stories. The Italian coast guard rescued 941 in the past 24 hours within 50 miles of the Libyan coast. One boat overturned and so far they have scooped 10 bodies out of the sea. In this group there are 50 women and 30 children. It is so sad. As far as the fascists are concerned, it is always nerve-wracking when you see them getting any traction, especially in a place like Italy where Benito Mussolini ruled for so many years.
In a briief and far too simple sum up of USA immigration. The President issued an executive order to keep many in the country illegally from being deported. A federal judge in Texas declared the order unconstitutinal in a judgment for 26 states. The White HOuse is appealing and still thinks it is a legal order. The other party does not want to pass a clean bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security without an attachment to cancel the executive order. The Senate finally passed clean bill for a week (I think), but the House is still not getting it done.
A presto
Thanks for the sum up Joan. I am really out of it and need to read up on this stuff.
This is a really tough situation,especially since the worsening Italian economy makes it hard to sustain influxes of migrants. What gets me though is that in their home countries there are pirates making a lot of money to bring people over on these unsafe boats in horrible conditions.
The traffickers are the real bad guys here and I wish there was some way the world could do something about them. They are all there on the Libyan coast — the problem is without actually invading Libya, which I do not think is a good idea, it is hard to get to them. It used to be that Italy was able to catch some traffickers that made the journey the whole way, but now they just take the boats a little bit off the coast, then have some of their trafficker buddies come pick them up and leave the migrants floating there with not enough fuel to make it to Italy and leaky boats. Terrible. I have also heard that the traffickers are also training young boys so that if they do get caught by the Italians, they cannot be prosecuted. It is complicated.
One question on Matteo Salvini: is he a legitimate contender? I have read that he has boosted the popularity of Lega Nord by expanding its message to be more inclusive i.e., stance on gay rights (though not regarding marriage or adoption) and most importantly reaching out to the economically challenged population in the south, thus increasing the party’s appeal. Could he challenge Renzi legitimately? Excuse me for being out of the loop, but what happened to Bossi?
I think Matteo Salvini is a legitimate contender because he has reached out to the South –I saw Sardinian flags at the rally and a banner of a group from Naples. Bossi had a stroke in 2004 that left him partially paralyzed in his face and made it difficult to understand him when he speaks. He left politics for a while but has been slowly entering back in. He was at the rally Saturday. Bossi never had a kind word to say about Southern Italy. Salvini is managing to fill a vacuum on the right in Italy, also grabbing away followers from Berlusconi who finally seems to be fading on the political scene. Like Renzi, Salvini is young energetic, a big user of social media — a new kind of Italian politician.
I guess the glamour shoot in Oggi didn’t hurt, huh?
http://www.oggi.it/attualita/notizie/2014/12/02/matteo-salvini-lancia-la-sfida-costruiro-unalternativa-a-renzi-e-correro-alle-primarie-del-centrodestra-anche-contro-berlusconi-esclusivo/
Oh my goodness. How did I mess that spread. Yikes. I think he should keep his clothes on.
Kinda fleshy, huh? I like where he describes himself as a romantic teddy bear who loves to fall in love. At least Berlusconi never posed topless….
The thought of Berlusconi without a shirt on does kind of make me queasy. And yes, you are right, Matteo Salvini is kinda fleshy. Bleck