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IMMIGRATION

Thirty-six migrants detained outside Milan’s central station

Thirty-six people have been detained by police following a blitz outside Milan’s central train station as the city grapples with new migrant arrivals.

Thirty-six migrants detained outside Milan's central station
Migrants outside Milan's central station. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP

The sweep on Wednesday came a week after a migrant from Guinea stabbed a police officer outside the station. The man was later deported.

It also came two months after a police officer and soldier were stabbed by a man of Tunisian and Italian origin at the station, where many homeless people and migrants sleep rough.

Police said the blitz was aimed at combating rising crime levels in the area.

Italy is in the midst of another migrant influx, with almost 94,000 people landing on the country’s southern shores so far this year, according to Italy's interior ministry, an increase of over five percent compared to the same period last year.

Many then make their way up to northern Italy in an attempt to reach countries in northern Europe, only to be left stranded at the borders with France, Switzerland and Austria due to tight immigration controls in those countries.

On Tuesday, European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker promised Italy an extra €100 million in funding to manage the situation, on top of nearly €800 million already pledged.

 

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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