(see related)Activists, NGOs,
unions and Catholics came together Friday to call on the
government not to end its Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) migrant
search-and-rescue operation, which has saved over 100,000 lives
at sea since its inception in October last year.
Their call came as Interior Minister Angelino Alfano
officially declared Mare Nostrum a thing of the past, to be
replaced by a pared-down, European Union-funded version called
Triton, that will patrol Italy's southern waters for incoming
boatloads of refugees fleeing wars and poverty in Africa and the
Middle East.
Mare Nostrum "is not the solution to all ills" but killing
it "is a very grave error", organizations from across the
political spectrum said at a joint press conference.
Triton, they said, will not save lives, but rather patrol
Italian waters.
"If Mare Nostrum stops, the deaths will multiply," said
Filippo Miraglia from ARCI.
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