(ANSA) - Turin, October 23 - The Red Cross said Tuesday that
21 migrant minors have been pushed back since the start of the
year at the French border at Monginevro, and intercepted by its
stations at Oulx and Bardonecchia, in upper Val di Susa.
The accompanied minors were taken with their parents to
migrant centres while the unaccompanied ones were entrusted to
the social services.
Interior ministry sources said earlier that France is
suspected of having tried to send minors back over the Italian
border.
The sources said Italian officials are running a series of
checks on an incident that took place on October 18 at around
22:30.
Officials are said to have stopped the attempted pushback
during a visit by experts sent by the ministry to the town of
Claviere, near the French border.
There has been tension between Rome and Paris after Interior
Minister Matteo Salvini reported incidents of French police
entering Italian territory to drop off migrants on the other
side of the border.
Salvini said he wondered whether European Economic Affairs
Commissioner Pierre Moscovici will come out against France over
this.
He linked the incident to the case of the Italian city of
Lodi, where migrant children for a period were unable to benefit
for discounts on school meals for low-earning families after the
local authority requested they provide documentation of their
assets in their home countries for the means-testing process.
Moscovici, a Frenchman, said he was shocked by that case.
"Who knows if Moscovici will be also shocked about France's
attempt to expel foreign minors or whether the European
commissioner only troubles himself for a just battle like the
one by the mayor of Lodi," said Salvini, the leader of the
League party.
"What is emerging at Claviere confirms that no one can allow
themselves to give lessons to Italy, including on the issue of
human rights".
21 migrant minors pushed back by France
This year