France opens its arms to 230 migrants on board rescue ship

A rescue ship carrying more than 230 migrants which was refused entry by Italy have safely disembarked and been welcomed into France. 

The Ocean Viking, operated by a French NGO, picked up the migrants near the Libyan coast before beginning a weeks long-search at sea to find a port willing to accept them.

The vessel docked at the southern port of Toulon on Friday after Rome denied it access. It promptly left to undergo maintenance at another port before returning to the sea in a few weeks’ time to save more migrants in the Mediterranean.  

French authorities said the last of the passengers disembarked late on Friday, while four others were evacuated by helicopter earlier this week. 

The area, near the Toulon port, has been designated a special ‘international waiting zone’ which is not part of French territory

Of the passengers, 189 people, including 23 women and 13 minors, are now living in a holiday camp turned shelter on the Giens Peninsula some 12 miles from the military port where they disembarked. 

The area, near the Toulon port, has been designated a special ‘international waiting zone’ which is not part of French territory. Those staying there will not be allowed to leave the area until their asylum request has been processed. 

French authorities have said all the arrivals have expressed the wish to seek asylum.  They will now have to undergo security checks before being interviewed by the country’s refugee agency OFPRA. 

OFPRA representatives were expected to arrive at the area today.  

Another 44 unaccompanied minors, mostly ‘young teenagers’, have been taken into the care of French social services and are not staying at the Giens shelter, according to local official Evence Richard. 

Of all passengers, 175 are set to leave France and head to 11 other countries. Germany is set to receive 80 migrants, while Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal and Romania will also welcome a share. 

Those staying in the Giens peninsula will not be allowed to leave the area until their asylum request has been processed

Italian authorities are refusing to let 35 migrants disembark a charity ship docked in Sicily (Pictured: Migrants asleep on deck of NGO rescue ship ‘Ocean Viking’)

The vessel initially sought to dock on Italy’ coast, which is closest to where the migrants were picked up, stating that health and sanitary conditions onboard were rapidly worsening. 

But Italy refused the ship entry, saying that other nations needed to shoulder more of the burden in taking in the thousands of migrants attempting to reach Europe from north Africa every year. 

The refusal is part of Giorgia Meloni’s new government regime which is allowing only those identified as vulnerable to disembark from four ships docked in the port of Catania. 

New Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi is targeting non-governmental organizations, which Italy has long accused of encouraging people trafficking in the central Mediterranean Sea. The groups deny the claim.

The new government is insisting the countries whose flags the charity-run ships fly must take in the migrants.

The confrontational stance taken by Meloni’s government is reminiscent of the standoffs orchestrated by Matteo Salvini, now Meloni’s infrastructure minister in charge of ports, during his brief 2018-2019 stint as interior minister.

In a Facebook video, Salvini repeated his allegations that the presence of the humanitarian boats encourages smugglers.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s new government is insisting the countries whose flags the charity-run ships fly must take in the migrants

Nongovernmental organizations reject that claim, saying they are obligated by the law of the sea to rescue people in distress and that coastal nations are obligated to provide a safe port as soon as feasible.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration has said that 1,891 migrants have died or disappeared so far this year while trying to cross the Mediterranean in the hope of a better life in Europe.

It comes as migrants hurled stones at French riot police in anger after officers slashed and deflated dinghies being prepared for English Channel crossings earlier today.  

Public officers from the French CRS – the general reserve of the French National Police – slashed and deflated at least two of the migrants’ rubber dinghies before they could launch in the village of Gravelines near Dunkirk, according to GB News. 

Frustrated, migrants began to throw stones and tree branches at the officers, who used the riot control agent CS spray.

The clash is a result of a new police presence across the French coast between Dunkirk and Calais, ahead of an expected announcement of a new channel security deal between the UK and France. 

The UK has agreed to pay an extra £60million to help authorities bolster the security presence along the French coast. 

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is under increasing pressure to get a grip on the crisis, with huge backlogs in processing asylum claims and horrific conditions reported at migrant detention centres

It comes as Home Secretary Suella Braverman is under increasing pressure to get a grip on the crisis, with huge backlogs in processing asylum claims and horrific conditions reported at migrant detention centres.

Ms Braverman told the House of Commons last month that the UK’s asylum system is ‘broken’. 

It has been revealed that the Home Office deported 350 people in October, more than 100 of whom were Albanian nationals. The figure included 22 people who arrived after crossing the Channel in small boats and were removed directly from Manston processing centre in Kent.

Ms Braverman said the removals would ‘send a clear message’ to people she says have no right to be in the UK.

Those deported in October included a Jamaican rapist who was sentenced to 14 years in jail, an Albanian jailed for more than nine years for violent crime and a Malaysian murderer who had received a life sentence.

Of the 347 people returned during October, 118 were to Albania, 39 to Brazil, 38 to Romania, 26 to Poland and 20 to Lithuania, the Home Office revealed. The majority – 230 – had previously committed offences in their own countries. 

But the remaining 117 were immigration offenders including two people who were removed within 24 days of arriving by small boat across the Channel. A third was sent back within 27 days of arrival. 

 
Almost 7,000 people arrived in the UK via small boat crossings in October, many of whom are vulnerable asylum seekers. 

The number of people reaching the UK in small boats from France after navigating busy shipping lanes has increased steadily in recent years. August 22 saw the highest daily total on record, with 1,295 people crossing in 27 boats.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is understood to have made an agreement with Emmanuel Macron this week which will allow UK Border Force officers into French control centres to help combat small-boat departures across the Channel.

The deal will also see the largest-ever sum handed by the UK taxpayer to France for escalated anti-dinghy patrols.