Italy refused migrant rescue ship Tuesday
[AlAhram] Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Tuesday refused to allow a ship carrying dozens of migrants to enter Italian waters, the latest in a string of standoffs over migrant rescues.
The Eleonore, run by German charity Mission Lifeline, is seeking a safe port after rescuing some 100 people from a collapsing dinghy in the Mediterranean on Monday.
Charity workers rescued the migrants after a run-in with the Libyan coast guard, which wanted to take them back to the crisis-hit north African country.
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Greek police raid Athens squats, arrest migrants
[AlAhram] More than 140 people, mainly migrants, were arrested in dawn raids on Athens squats Monday as part of a major crackdown, police said. A police source said 143 people, some without papers, had been picked up. Most were from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran and Iraq. There were 57 men and 51 women in the group, and the rest were children, the source added.
Dozens of officers cleared four squats occupied for several weeks, mainly by refugees and migrants, in the Exarcheia district of Athens. Athens prosecutors authorised the raids after complaints filed by the owners of the buildings being squatted.
The new conservative government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has vowed to bring "order" to the district, promising regular police patrols.
The Exarcheia neighbourhood has frequently been the site of clashes between anarchists and police, particularly since 2008, when a police officer shot dead a teenager, sparking days of rioting.