The mayor of an island that was once a symbol for refugee compassion has warned it is descending into anarchy. His political opponents accuse him of stoking up fear and overstating the problem.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/NurPhoto/C. Marquardt
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The mayor of the Italian island of Lampedusa, destination for many migrants setting off from Tunisia, complained on Sunday that his town was on the verge of societal collapse.
Groups of migrants were flouting laws, harassing women and getting drunk, Mayor Salvatore Martello said in an open letter to Italian news agency ANSA and in comments to Italian news outlets.
"Threats, harassments, thefts, Lampedusa is about to collapse," Martello wrote, calling for the closure of the "useless" migrant center on the island. "Police are powerless," he wrote.
"The bars are full of Tunisians who are drunk and harass women. I receive tens of messages from frightened tourists, hoteliers, traders and restaurateurs who suffer daily."
Refugees protest in Lampedusa, causing headaches for locals
As asylum-seekers occupy town plazas to protest detention in Lampedusa, locals on both sides of the migration debate are calling for removal of a hotspot there to protect tourism. Diego Cupolo reports from the island.
Image: DW/D. Cupolo
Global problem, tiny island
Lampedusa has long been a reception point for asylum-seekers fleeing northern Africa, but the creation of a hotspot (pictured above) in late 2015 has brought new difficulties to the island. At just 20 kilometers square, Lampedusa is too small to host potential refugees, according to locals, who worry of negative impacts on their vital tourism industry.
Image: DW/D. Cupolo
Protest in town center
Tension reached a climax in the past week, as refugees began occupying a town plaza to protest their detention. Muhammad Jama, a 17-year-old Somali, said he was participating because hotspot authorities won't let him leave until he registers with fingerprints. "If I give them that, I have to stay in Italy," he said. "Italy is not a solution for us."
Image: DW/D. Cupolo
'Maybe they just don't like us'
Ali Addow, a Somali who was stranded at sea nine days before a rescue boat brought him to Lampedusa, said he has been in the hotspot for two months. "We came from war, al-Shabab destroyed my country," Addow said. "I don't know why they can't see us as refugees like the Syrians in Germany. Maybe they just don't like us."
Image: DW/D. Cupolo
Protest interrupted by funeral
Tuesday morning, a funeral procession brought locals face to face with asylum-seekers camping in the plaza, where some voiced frustration with the protesters. "The smell is driving away my customers," said Maria Maggiore, who runs a beauty salon adjacent to the plaza. "These people piss right next to my business, and my clients are afraid they'll get fleas."
Image: DW/D. Cupolo
Under pressure
Giacomo Matina (right), pictured arguing with a local activist, said he's helped asylum-seekers for 30 years and even adopted a Tunisian minor in 2011, but like other island natives, he is getting tired of the issue. "They have no respect," he said. "I tell my wife we should sell the house and leave because I can't live in Lampedusa anymore."
Image: DW/D. Cupolo
'Fight between the poor'
"This is a fight between the poor, the problems you see here are the result of laws imposed by the EU that we have no control over," said Giacomo Sferlazzo, of the Collettivo Askavusa, or "Barefoot Collective" in Lampedusan dialect. "If Italy triples its arms exports in one year, if we make war in Libya, what else can we expect?"
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Both sides against the hotspot
Angela Maraventano, a member of the anti-immigration, ultra-conservative Liga Nord party, blocks traffic to protest the presence of asylum-seekers. She may not have much in common with leftist Sferlazzo, but both are calling for the removal of the hotspot, saying refugees are brought to Lampedusa by rescue boats and don't arrive unexpectedly via rubber dinghies such as in Greece.
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'We have nothing to offer them'
"The coast guard brings them to our napkin-sized island when they should be going to the mainland, where there is more space," Maraventano said. "I have a restaurant on the port and I want to see French tourists disembarking with large pearl necklaces, not people who want everything given to them for free. We have nothing to offer them."
Image: DW/D. Cupolo
'To live peacefully'
Looking over the port, 17-year-old Dihaa Hamami of Tunisia, said he understood frustrations displayed by locals, but also that he felt most recognized the issue was larger than the hotspot in Lampedusa. "I don't want anything, just to live peacefully," Hamami said. "In Tunisia, we can't drink beer, we can't listen to music. We suffer, but we don't want Italians to suffer with us."
Image: DW/D. Cupolo
Another night, another plaza
Following the funeral on Tuesday, protesters cleaned up the plaza where they had been camping and occupied a different square, easing tensions with locals. As he spread a blanket over cardboard boxes, Yemeni refugee Wael Marsh said, "We don't want to be here, the people don't want us here, so we will protest until they take us off this island."
Image: DW/D. Cupolo
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Residents outnumbered
After a decade out of power, Martello was re-elected recently as mayor of Italy's southernmost island, which over the past 20 years has become a primary entry point for migrants to Europe. At times its temporary migrant population has outnumbered the island's 6,000 permanent residents.
Lampedusa has long held the image of having open arms for migrants. Its residents were nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in rescuing hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants, many from Eritrea, Syria and Libya, and treating them with dignity and compassion.
"The inhabitants have proved capable of living in peaceful co-existence with the new-comers, while showing a unique ability to express empathy and solidarity," Oslo Professor Elisabeth Eide wrote in her nomination letter.
Previous Mayor Giusi Nicolini in April 2017 was awarded the Unesco peace prize for "her humanity, and her constant efforts in managing the refugee crisis."
But Martello, who served as mayor from 1992 to 2002 and was re-elected in June, presented a picture of an island struggling with lawlessness.
Although the reception center is heavily guarded by multiple security agencies, rowdy migrants are able to come and go as they please, he argues.
Mayor accused of restoring fear
His comments were rejected by his predecessor Nicolini, who told ANSA he was vastly overstating the problem and that there were very few thefts.
"This is an attempt to restore the climate of fear that existed on Lampedusa before my election," she was quoted as saying.
Nicolini conceded that the flow of Libyan refugees had been replaced by small numbers of Tunisian migrants who were evading controls.
The island's parish priest said he was surprised by Martello's comments, in comments to La Stampa(Italian language).
He said the recent Tunisian arrivals were "very young and certainly noisy," but that the island remained calm and it was possible to live there. He said he had recently brought a delegation to the island and that the migrants remained almost invisible.
"I'm not at all aware of disturbances or crimes." He said it was probable that Martello was seeking to boost his political position.
It would be a tall order for Rome to dismantle the so-called hotspot center, as it was opened following an explicit request from the European Union. The hotspots serve as point of first call to identify, document and often deport Mediterranean arrivals.