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AFGHANISTAN

Afghan refugees break hunger strike in Boden

Thirteen Afghan refugees who have been on a hunger strike outside Migration Board (Migrationsverket) offices in Boden in northern Sweden have broken off their action after three weeks of refusing to eat.

Afghan refugees break hunger strike in Boden

“Two quit yesterday, one in the morning, and the rest during the evening. We’ve had talks during the entire afternoon together with police,” the agency’s Mikael Ribbenvik told the TT news agency on Sunday.

The Migration Board took the hunger strikers to hospital so they could get help starting to eat again.

“When you’ve managed for so long there is a certain procedure required before you can start to eat again. You need checkups and support,” said Ribbenvik.

The move comes following efforts begun by police negotiators on Saturday to launch a dialogue with the hunger strikers in Boden. However, Ribbenvik said they Afghan refugees likely abandoned their protest due to a combination of efforts.

The refugees in Boden have been on hunger strike since mid-April, as have a group located Holmsund, just outside of Umeå.

The Holmsund asylum seekers are continuing their hunger strike, as are a group located in Gävle in eastern Sweden who began their protest a little over a week ago.

Most of the hunger-strikers are originally from Afghanistan and many have been taken to hospital for treatment in the course of the hunger strike.

All of those involved are seeking residency in Sweden, several have been rejected while others are waiting for rulings or plan to seek asylum elsewhere in the EU.

TT/The Local/dl

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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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