Italians Angered By Invasion of Illegal Immigrants From Africa and Middle East

[From article]
Italians are in growing revolt against the number of migrants arriving on their shores, with more than 10,000 people rescued from the Mediterranean in the past week alone.
The huge influx of asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa is putting an intolerable strain on a country that has been in recession for the past five years.
Conservative politicians called this week for boatloads of refugees to be sent back to Libya, while the system of migrant reception centres is on the verge of collapse.
The government in Rome has asked regional authorities to provide 6,500 new beds for migrants who are arriving on a daily basis in Sicily and the tiny island of Lampedusa.
But many regions responded grudgingly - some with downright hostility - saying they had no space to offer.
Val d’Aosta, a small, mountainous region on the French border, offered to take just one refugee.
There was also a frosty reception from the wealthy northern region of Lombardy.

[. . .]

“The situation is becoming unsustainable,” Mario Mattioli, the owner of the tug boat, told La Repubblica on Thursday. “Taking part in rescues is no longer unusual – it has become routine.
“Like other merchant ships we are being called on to help out on a daily basis, but our crews are not trained to deal with these operations. We can’t provide medical care or thermal blankets or emergency food.”
There are also security issues for the crews of merchant ships – this week traffickers fired shots into the air from Kalashnikovs in order to force an Italian vessel and an Icelandic coast guard ship to relinquish a wooden boat which had been used to transport migrants from the Libyan coast.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11542063/Italians-revolt-against-migrant-invasion.html

Italians revolt against migrant 'invasion'
Italians are resisting the huge influx of immigrants arriving on their shores, with some politicians calling on supporters to say "no, with every means, to every new arrival"

By Nick Squires

Rome
2:59PM BST 16 Apr 2015