Salvini: “we do not accept that foreigners arrested in French territory are brought to Italy …”

The Italian Ministry of the Interior announces this Saturday the sending of Italian police to patrol the French border to prevent the refoulement of migrants.

My French policemen filmed in the process of driving three migrants to the Italian border on Friday 19 October. This is a video that triggered the anger of Matteo Salvini, the Italian interior minister, who announced this Saturday, October 20 sending Italian police to the border to patrol.

Matteo Salvini denounced an “umpteenth abuse of the French authorities, who also benefited from the good faith of our police”. The day before, he said that “without prompt explanations, complete and convincing, we will face a provocation and a hostile act”.

The prefecture of the Hautes-Alpes is a “procedure of non-admission to the border in all respects in accordance with the practice agreed between the French police and the Italian police as well as European law”. The three people had been refused at the crossing point Montgenèvre, 500 meters away, for lack of valid documents.

++ ???? Video incredibile! Condividi he more possibile! ++
Girato questa mattina at Claviere, on the border of Italia-Francia. Anse questa auto della polizia francese aveva sbagliato strada ???
Macron, rispondi! pic.twitter.com/7qeLmwO2NL

– Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) October 19, 2018
“The umpteenth abuse of the French authorities, who have also benefited from the good faith of our police, will have consequences: patrol cars were sent to Clavière to control and guard the border,” he wrote on social networks.

“Times have changed and we do not accept that foreigners arrested in French territory are brought to Italy without our law enforcement agencies checking their identity.” Thousands of migrants seeking to cross into France are intercepted each year and taken back to the Italian border by the police.

Relations between France and Italy have tightened in recent months, and the controversy over the reception of migrants is increasing. Rome accuses its European partners of letting it manage alone the 700,000 migrants arrived on its shores since 2013.

“There is no bilateral agreement Italy-France, written and official, which allows this type of operation,” added the Italian minister, denouncing the practices of the former government.

About The Author

Gabriel MIHAI

See author's posts