Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

IMMIGRATION

Half of Aquarius migrants will ‘seek asylum in France’

Almost half of the 630 migrants that were rescued from the Mediterranean and arrived in Spain's port of Valencia at the weekend want to seek asylum in France, the Spanish government said Monday.

Published: 18 June 2018 16:46 CEST

Half of Aquarius migrants will 'seek asylum in France'

Karpov / SOS MEDITERRANEE / AFP

The migrants arrived in Spain on Sunday in three vessels, including the rescue ship Aquarius, after being turned away by Italy and Malta last week.

France has said it will work with Spain to deal with asylum applications.

READ MORE: ‘It’s been a long time since I was hugged like this': Aquarius girl, 12, to rescuer

“Almost half the migrants have shown their willingness to seek asylum in France, whic offered to welcome some of the people travelling on the ship,” Spain's new socialist government said in a statement.

Pascal Brice, director-general of France's refugee protection office Ofpra, told AFP that one of his teams would travel to Valencia soon.

“As soon as the Spanish authorities have informed us of the number of people concerned, a team from Ofpra will go on site to conduct the interviews and ensure that people are covered by the right to asylum,” he said, adding that the process should take place this week.

The majority of the 630 migrants are from Africa, including 450 men and 80 women, of which at least seven are pregnant, as well as 89 adolescents and 11 children under the age of 13, according to the Valencian authorities.

The Aquarius rescued them off Libya's coast on June 9th and Italy and Malta's refusal to let the ship dock led to an international outcry before Spain stepped in to help.

READ MORE:

Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Officials had been carrying out an “intensive review for several months… to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists.

“It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly,” Faeser said.

“That is why we are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people to both Syria and Afghanistan,” she said.

Deportations to Afghanistan from Germany have been completely stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.

But a debate over resuming expulsions has resurged after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim on Friday.

A police officer, 29, died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.

Five people taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were also wounded.

Friday’s brutal attack has inflamed a public debate over immigration in the run up to European elections and prompted calls to expand efforts to expel criminals.

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

The suspect, named in the media as Sulaiman Ataee, came to Germany as a refugee in March 2013, according to reports.

Ataee, who arrived in the country with his brother at the age of only 14, was initially refused asylum but was not deported because of his age, according to German daily Bild.

Ataee subsequently went to school in Germany, and married a German woman of Turkish origin in 2019, with whom he has two children, according to the Spiegel weekly.

Per the reports, Ataee was not seen by authorities as a risk and did not appear to neighbours at his home in Heppenheim as an extremist.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday took over the investigation into the incident, as they looked to establish a motive.

Url copied to clipboard!