Minors in Tent Cities and Hotspots: Pozzallo, Augusta, Catania and Messina

The year 2016 ended with more arrivals, more deaths, more missing persons. The year 2017 has begun with the proposal for new detention centres and other limitations on migrants' freedom of movement. The criminal policies of Fortress Europe increasingly require new discussions, commemorations and real solidarity. On December 24^th, 111 migrants landed at Pozzallo, but the daily news recounts nothing but the immediate arrest of two alleged boat drivers, which bring the number of arrestees in the Province of Ragusa to 200.

Photo: the Pozzallo hotspot - Lucia Borghi

Disappearing among the large numbers

They have reached the port of Catania tonight, the survivors of the immense tragedy of these days. 950 missing people to which are added new victims of the shipwreck that happened in the Aegean Sea this night, and others scattered on the coasts of Libya. These tragic numbers announced after the recent tragedies leave without words who for months and years of talk and false promises has heard too many of them. But it’s exactly this hypocrisy and opportunism of the official rhetoric that makes it inevitable to give expression to testimonies of those who have a historical depth in regard to the sensational news of the moment.

Ship sinks between Lybia and Lampedusa: 10 dead, search parties continue

from Repubblica Palermo
Search parties have been operating throughout the night and continue to do so this morning in the search for any eventual survivors after a dinghy sank 35 miles from Lybia and 140 miles from Lampedusa. 70 migrants have been rescued and 10 bodies have been retrieved from the sea. The search party includes coastguard patrol boats, a navy boat complete with helicopter and an offshore tugboat.

Relatives of the missing Tunisians, 'We can't believe in any of the information which arrives. The only thing we can believe in is fate.'

From Terrelibere
TUNIS - "Ten are said to have arrived according to the Red Cross," or, "They told us the boat was in Malta." There are people who have been left waiting for over a year and a half now. They are being deluded on a monthly basis by all the rumours and news that arrives. For example, the mother who spreads word that her son has made contact after a year and a half as another of her children cannot marry until there is news of him. Many are worried, maybe they have not been waiting long, maybe only since the last sinking which occurred between the 6th and 7th September just off the island of Lampione, a couple of miles from Lampedusa.

Migrants transferred from Lampedusa but Thursday's survivors stay

While search and rescue operations continue in the sea between Lampedusa and Lampione for survivors of last Thursday's sinking, those already on the island of Lampedusa continue to be transferred to other destinations. Yesterday evening, a group of 17 Tunisians who arrived on Lampedusa in the last couple of days, were sent to the hangar in the Port of Pozzallo to await repatriation. The Ragusan CSPA (First Reception Centre) is therefore still being used to all extents and purposes as a Centre of Identification and Expulsion, despite not possessing the legal status to operate in this way.

Bereavement for the dead, collective refoulements for the living

By Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo
The latest tragedy hit waters near the small uninhabited island of Lampione to the west of Lampedusa. Facing the Tunisian ports of Mahdia and Monastir, it is the first strip of Italian soil that can be reached from north Africa. Despite all the confusion surrounding this tragedy, it now seems clear that the control and rescue operations, initially deployed in an area covering up to 60 miles south of Lampedusa, are now being carried out only in close proximity to the Pelagie islands.

Migrant sacrifice at sea Boat capsizes with 136 aboard, 79 missing

From Lettera43.
The Coast Guard found the survivors at dawn on 7th September. In order to stay afloat and to reach the shore, many had removed their clothes. Half naked, cold and terrified, they had taken shelter on the tiny island of Lampione, little more than 1km². They had reached the very first strip of the "promised land" which they had risked their lives for.

Sinking off Lampedusa- more than 50 missing

Initial reports state that all those aboard the boat which sank on the night of the 6th September were of Tunisian origin. News coming from Lampedusa states that this morning at around 10am, 2 boys and a girl who survived the sinking were still being kept at the medical centre in Lampedusa for further tests. However, it was not necessary for any of the 56 survivors to be admitted to hospital.