Italy has slipped dangerously backwards on migrants, Amnesty

(ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 22 - Italy has regressed in a frightening manner on the issue of immigration, the director of the Italian branch of Amnesty International, Gianni Rufini, told ANSAmed.

He added that it is a country ''where racism, xenophobia, and violent hatred of migrants is growing to an ever more concerning extent'', such as in the case of the Macerata shooting spree that targeted migrants. Rufini was speaking during the presentation of the organization's 2017-2018 report in Rome. ''We see that these attitudes of hatred and violence, across the entire political sphere, are poisoning our society,'' he stressed. He added that ''Italy has gone from being the country where its state forces save those drowning in the central Mediterranean and then start procedures for asylum or other forms of protection to being the country that pushes them back directly from the sea into Libyan concentration camps and that has prevented NGOs from continuing their rescue operations.'' The steep drop in landings at the end of 2017 ''is not helping Italy to develop a welcoming atmosphere. There continues to be yelling about a lack of security said to have been caused by migration (...). Italy is one of the safest countries in Europe today,'' he said, ''and yet citizens continue to think that there are dangers and a lack of security.'' (ANSAmed).

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