Salvini bans migrant rescue boat from docking in Italy

Migrants are given foil blankets to keep warm after being rescued by Migrant Offshore Aid Station’s Phoenix vessel
Migrants are given foil blankets to keep warm after being rescued by Migrant Offshore Aid Station’s Phoenix vessel
CHRIS MCGRATH/GETTY IMAGES

Matteo Salvini has told a charity rescue ship loaded with migrants that it could drift in the Mediterranean “until New Year’s Eve” after he used a new law to stop its passengers landing in Italy.

The Sea Watch 3, operated by a German charity, was stranded off the Italian island of Lampedusa yesterday. She was carrying 42 migrants rescued off Libya, including a 12-year-old boy who is one of three unaccompanied minors on board.

In a compromise deal Italy agreed to take ten migrants to shore at the weekend, including families with newborn babies, the sick and pregnant women.

Matteo Salvini has enacted a decree allowing the government to fine charity boats
Matteo Salvini has enacted a decree allowing the government to fine charity boats
REMO CASILLI/REUTERS

But Mr Salvini, Italy’s hardline anti-migrant deputy prime minister, promised that the remaining migrants on board would not be allowed into the country. The