'Keep Mare Nostrum' says civil society

(see related)(ANSA) - Rome, October 31 - 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.