Mediterranean Migrant Rescue Ship Aquarius Ends Operations

By Clyde Hughes

The rescue vessel MV Aquarius enters the Grand Harbour in Senglea, Valletta, Malta, on August 15.

Photo by Domenic Aquilina/EPA-EFE

UPI -- The migrant rescue ship Aquarius is ending its operations in the Mediterranean Sea after Doctors Without Borders said Thursday the Italian government intervened.

Doctors Without Borders said in a statement a "sustained campaign" has been waged against the ship that has transported numerous migrants at sea. The Aquarius has so far rescued more than 80,000 people escaping war, poverty and other conditions in their home countries.

The Aquarius has not left the dock in Marseille, France, since October, when Panama refused to grant the vessel a request to continue under its flag after being pressured by Italian authorities, The Telegraph reported.

"Sustained attacks on search and rescue by European states will mean more deaths at sea and more needless deaths that will go unwitnessed," Doctors Without Borders tweeted.

Last month, Italy seized the ship on suspicions it was dumping toxic waste.

"This is a dark day," Nelke Manders, Doctors Without Borders general director, said in a statement. "Not only has Europe failed to provide search and rescue capacity, it has also actively sabotaged others' attempts to save lives."

The organization said more than 2,100 migrants have died in the Mediterranean this year, most from Libya. It said the Libyan coast guard has intercepted more than 14,000 at sea.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who took office in June riding an anti-immigrant stance, has shut down the country's ports to ships that rescue migrants at sea -- saying it's been shouldering an unfair burden of the European migrant crisis.

The populist Italian government on Friday began removing immigrants from "welcome centers" built to protect them on humanitarian grounds.

Protesters Block Migrant Routes to Calais, Demand End to ‘Invasion in Europe’

© Génération Identitaire / Facebook

More than a hundred protesters have blocked several routes for migrants, preventing them from gaining access to Calais. The activists’ banners called to “stop the invasion of Europe” and “defend” their city.

The protest was initiated by the Facebook community Génération Identitaire, a group which opposes mass migration. According to the group’s estimates, more than 130 people took part in the rally.

The activists, who were carrying banners with the slogans “Go Home,” “Defend Calais” and “No way,” claimed they had taken control of three bridges leading to the city.

At least 12 protesters have been detained by riot police, the group later wrote.

“For months, Calais has been a symbol …of the real invasion confronting our continent,” the group wrote on Facebook, saying that the city has recently seen “attacks against police, against motorists and truck drivers, city riots, the total disintegration of social life and the economy.”

The group blamed political leaders in France and across Europe for the deteriorating situation in the city.

“Since these governments refuse to protect people by restoring the borders,… they will see people building barricades! As this morning in Calais,” the group added.

Numerous photos and videos on social media show the protesters surrounded by police.

The rally comes a day after a huge blaze ripped through the Calais ‘Jungle’ refugee camp. The cause of the fire is still unknown.

On Friday, Xavier Bertrand, president of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie region, told the Guardian that France wants UK border guards to tell refugees that Britain is tightening asylum rules.

“What we need now is UK border guards going through the camp at Calais every week telling the people that it is no longer the case that the UK is an El Dorado,” he said.

He added that Calais residents “are exasperated.” “It is not sustainable for the region. I do not want a drama, it’s what I want to avoid, but it’s possible someone will be killed unless we make progress,” he said.

Earlier in March, hundreds of Calais residents arrived in Paris to protest against the deteriorating economic situation in their region, which they say has been caused by the migrant crisis.

Doctors Without Borders have opened a new migrant camp near the town of Grande Synthe, in the Nord-Pas de Calais region. The camp was set up without the approval of the French government.

The new camp project was launched after French authorities ordered the demolition of part of the Calais Jungle camp, which served as a temporary home for over 5,000 asylum seekers. It was the largest makeshift camp in Europe and has gradually turned into a small town with its own social life.

In February, a court in Lille authorized the demolition of the Jungle, but commanded police to spare public facilities such as mosques, restaurants and schools that have sprung up on the site.

Most Jungle residents, whose overall numbers likely exceed 4,000, are from the Middle East, Africa, and Afghanistan. Most have traveled to France in the hope of crossing the English Channel to the UK, after having had their applications rejected elsewhere, or in expectation of better prospects in the country.