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IMMIGRATION

Refugee facility hit by arson attack

A refugee housing facility in Karlskoga in central Sweden was subject to an arson attack early Tuesday morning, according to police.

Residents of the facility, which is operated by the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) were forced to evacuate the premises, but could later return.

“It seems as if someone poured flammable liquid in through the mail slot and then set it on fire,” said Thomas Ginghagen of the Örebro county police to the TT news agency.

The door caught fire, with flames ten spreading to an office shortly after 2am. The refugee facility, which is housed in the same building, was evacuated because of the heavy smoke.

The refugee centre is in the process of being emptied and the only current residents include a family and one more individual.

The building has been cordoned off in preparation for a forensic investigation.

The facility has been subject to several other small fires and vandalism in the past, according to Ginhagen.

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IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

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