Immigrants in times of coronavirus: rescues at sea and jumping over the Melilla fence continue
Although all eyes and efforts are focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic, which has already left more than 1.5 million people infected and around 80,000 dead, many people continue their desperate journey to Europe in poor boats with little chance of reaching the coast alive if they are not rescued. According to the German NGO Sea Eye, its boat 'Alan Kurdi' (the name of the Syrian boy who drowned on a beach in Turkey in 2015), has rescued 150 immigrants in two operations in the last few days in the central Mediterranean.
In the first rescue, which took place on Monday, the NGO managed to save 68 people on board a boat on the high seas off the coast of Libya. Another 43 people died in the sinking of a boat on the route to the Canary Islands. The rescue vessel reported on its website that the Libyan militia shot at them while rescuing 68 people from an overcrowded wooden boat in international waters. Sea-Eye said that during the rescue, a Libyan-flagged speedboat endangered the work of its crew. "After firing into the air, about half of the people on the wooden boat jumped into the water, panicking and without life jackets, and tried to swim to the Alan Kurdi," the NGO said.
This Monday, Alan Kurdi carried out a second rescue of 82 people, including a pregnant woman. According to the NGO, there were other ships in the area (the ones that normally support the oil platforms), which refused to help. For this second intervention, Sea-eye pointed out that the Asso 29, an Italian merchant ship serving the oil platforms of Eni, off Libya, didn't intervene in the rescue, despite being very close to the shipwreck.
The Italian and Maltese ministries announced to Germany that they won't allow these people to disembark on their territories, as a result of the health crisis that both countries are experiencing. As we go to press, the humanitarian ship is 25 miles from the Italian island of Lampedusa waiting for a port to disembark.
The Alan Kurdi is the only boat still operating in the central Mediterranean, after boats from other NGOs withdrew after being forced by the Italian authorities to keep a period of 15 days in isolation after bringing rescued immigrants to port.
The reality at the Melilla fence continues despite COVID-19. A group of 260 people were involved in a massive and violent entry on Monday morning, where at least 55 people managed to get past the police.
According to the Government delegation of the autonomous city, the assault took place around 5 a.m. The group that managed to enter Spanish territory went to the Centre for Temporary Stay of Immigrants (CETI) in Melilla to be welcomed. The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said that the usual steps would be taken in these circumstances, although he added that expulsions to Morocco wouldn't be possible, since the border with Morocco remains totally closed because of the measures taken by Mohammed VI due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amnesty International, through its social networks, stated in this regard that "all those who arrive have the right to be treated with dignity and humanity. They may come running away from wars. They may have lost their families. Or they may have been driven by poverty to leave everything behind in search of a better future".