Hundreds of North African citizens, about 3,000, according to the Italian authorities have landed in the last two days in Lampedusa (Sicily). A steady stream of boats and people, mostly Tunisian still coming today to the small Italian island in what seems a direct consequence of the popular revolt that ousted last month, the Tunisian dictator Ben Ali.
The Italian Government, which meets in Rome in an extraordinary cabinet meeting, has announced it will declare a state of humanitarian emergency and has requested urgent assistance from the European Union to tackle the crisis. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, said that he risks a "human tragedy" and has raised the terror alert level since, he has said, among those who arrived in Lampedusa "there are citizens who seek protection, the criminal escaped prisons and characters infiltrated terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb.
" Human rights organizations have complained that the reception center in Lampedusa, which could shelter a thousand people, remains closed. Hundreds of immigrants have spent the night at the dock at the port of Lampedusa and are not receiving health care. Two buses, one for 50 persons and a smaller one, moving with dropper newcomers, exhausted by fatigue and cold, two makeshift structures for the reception.
Other immigrants are being flown to the identification and deportation centers located in Sicily. But the arrival of boats, fishing boats and is continuous for 48 hours. The last landing with 17 people occurred at dawn, about 0515 hours but before 71 immigrants had arrived at 03.15, 24 to 01.30, 28 at 00.45, and ten at 00.30.
Before midnight a barge moored with 90 passengers and another with 30. The pastor of Lampedusa, Stefano Nastasi, has offered to civilian authorities and local Church has asked to open the reception center, where workers have been dismissed with a temporary ERE nevertheless are helping bring food and clothing to immigrants.
Although at first the young men were landed in the last few hours have also begun to reach women and children. Expatriates have that many ships en route to the island and that the new Tunisian Government has lost control of the southern ports, especially that of Sfax where, say, fishermen embark on anyone who is willing to pay 2,000 to $ 2,500.
Minister Maroni fears that the revolution in Egypt further worsen the situation and has sent a letter to the rotating presidency of the EU Council and the European Commission to request that the next Council on Justice and Home Affairs discuss "the crisis in countries of North Africa and its reflection on immigration and internal security in Europe.
" An Italian spokesman of Amnesty International said that the massive influx of Tunisia shows that the failure of the international asylum standards decided in the past by the Italian government "does not stop the flow of immigrants when the situation is hopeless" and called analyzing "piecemeal" the legal status of arrivals in Lampedusa.
"The human rights situation in Tunisia is still uncertain, and we must be sure not to repatriate anyone who may suffer persecution or torture." 
The Italian Government, which meets in Rome in an extraordinary cabinet meeting, has announced it will declare a state of humanitarian emergency and has requested urgent assistance from the European Union to tackle the crisis. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, said that he risks a "human tragedy" and has raised the terror alert level since, he has said, among those who arrived in Lampedusa "there are citizens who seek protection, the criminal escaped prisons and characters infiltrated terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb.
" Human rights organizations have complained that the reception center in Lampedusa, which could shelter a thousand people, remains closed. Hundreds of immigrants have spent the night at the dock at the port of Lampedusa and are not receiving health care. Two buses, one for 50 persons and a smaller one, moving with dropper newcomers, exhausted by fatigue and cold, two makeshift structures for the reception.
Other immigrants are being flown to the identification and deportation centers located in Sicily. But the arrival of boats, fishing boats and is continuous for 48 hours. The last landing with 17 people occurred at dawn, about 0515 hours but before 71 immigrants had arrived at 03.15, 24 to 01.30, 28 at 00.45, and ten at 00.30.
Before midnight a barge moored with 90 passengers and another with 30. The pastor of Lampedusa, Stefano Nastasi, has offered to civilian authorities and local Church has asked to open the reception center, where workers have been dismissed with a temporary ERE nevertheless are helping bring food and clothing to immigrants.
Although at first the young men were landed in the last few hours have also begun to reach women and children. Expatriates have that many ships en route to the island and that the new Tunisian Government has lost control of the southern ports, especially that of Sfax where, say, fishermen embark on anyone who is willing to pay 2,000 to $ 2,500.
Minister Maroni fears that the revolution in Egypt further worsen the situation and has sent a letter to the rotating presidency of the EU Council and the European Commission to request that the next Council on Justice and Home Affairs discuss "the crisis in countries of North Africa and its reflection on immigration and internal security in Europe.
" An Italian spokesman of Amnesty International said that the massive influx of Tunisia shows that the failure of the international asylum standards decided in the past by the Italian government "does not stop the flow of immigrants when the situation is hopeless" and called analyzing "piecemeal" the legal status of arrivals in Lampedusa.
"The human rights situation in Tunisia is still uncertain, and we must be sure not to repatriate anyone who may suffer persecution or torture."
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