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| Italy hopes forcible removal prompts EU to act over Mediterranean migrant crisis | Italy hopes forcible removal prompts EU to act over Mediterranean migrant crisis |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Italian police have forcibly removed a few dozen African migrants who have been camping out for days next to the French border in hopes of continuing their journeys farther north. | Italian police have forcibly removed a few dozen African migrants who have been camping out for days next to the French border in hopes of continuing their journeys farther north. |
| The violent scenes on the coast are being used by Italy to demonstrate that Europe needs to do more to relieve the migrant crisis. | |
| Some of the people being removed held on to signposts, while others tried to resist being loaded on to a Red Cross bus brought in to clear them from the Ventimiglia border crossing. Those on the rocks jutting out into the sea were left alone, with police apparently unwilling to move into a more treacherous location. | |
| Related: Italy threatens to give Schengen visas to migrants as EU ministers meet | Related: Italy threatens to give Schengen visas to migrants as EU ministers meet |
| The people, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea, have been camped out for five days after French border police refused to let them enter the country. They have refused to leave, saying they want to continue to find family members further north. | |
| The Italian interior minster, Angelino Alfano, arriving on Tuesday at a meeting of his EU counterparts in Luxembourg, said the scenes from Ventimiglia were a “slap in the face to Europe” and proof that migrants and refugees do not want to stay in Italy. | The Italian interior minster, Angelino Alfano, arriving on Tuesday at a meeting of his EU counterparts in Luxembourg, said the scenes from Ventimiglia were a “slap in the face to Europe” and proof that migrants and refugees do not want to stay in Italy. |
| Italy, which has borne the brunt of rescuing refugees and migrants at sea and providing initial assistance, is demanding that other European countries take them and let them apply for asylum elsewhere. | |
| Under EU rules, those arriving in Italy are supposed to be fingerprinted and apply for asylum there as it is the first EU country where they land. | Under EU rules, those arriving in Italy are supposed to be fingerprinted and apply for asylum there as it is the first EU country where they land. |
| The French interior ministry has reinforced border controls over the past few weeks owing to an influx of people. Austria also increased its border surveillance, though those measures ended on Monday. | The French interior ministry has reinforced border controls over the past few weeks owing to an influx of people. Austria also increased its border surveillance, though those measures ended on Monday. |