Italy’s
proximity has made it a magnet for illegal migrants seeking to flee the
political turmoil convulsing North Africa. During the many weeks while the
Italian government claims it was waiting for both help from the European Union
member states and an opportunity to strike a deal with the Tunisian government
to jointly patrol the North African coastline, some 20,000 migrants arrived on
the small Sicilian island of Lampedusa. Because the single refugee centre there
accommodates only 850 people, Lampedusa’s 5,000 inhabitants fiercely protested
the influx, which quicly turned into a sanitary and humanitarian crisis.
Migrants themselves also took to the streets to protest the conditions in which
they were being held. On March 30, the government started transferring the
migrants to refugee camps throughout Italy.
