On the violence of institutions in Lampedusa
by – Hurriya Info – 15 September
It is difficult to describe the level of cynical, sadistic, systematic violence that the institutions are exerting on the people landed on Lampedusa these days. A violence that continues in cascade (and in these cases in almost total media silence), in all the other places where people are transferred after their arrival on Lampedusa: Trapani, Catania, Porto Empedocle, Pozzallo, Caltanissetta, Messina, Siculiana, Melilli and many others.
For example, yesterday 450 people were transferred to the port of Trapani after being left for days, first at sea and then locked up with 7,000 others in the Lampedusa hotspot, without sufficient food, water, toilets, clothing. Embarking at 6am, they arrived in Trapani at 9.20pm. All the while the 450 people, including 150 women and children, were not provided with food or a drop of water, neither on departure, nor on board, nor on arrival. The police escorting the motor vessel prohibited the distribution of water and only after protests on board did they at least provide bags of milk to 20 infants and children. Many people felt sick and collapsed and fainted. After disembarking, many of these people were allegedly taken to the Trapani Milo CPR (detention centre), which has been used for months to detain people who have just arrived in Italy.
In all this violence and horror, the absence of solidarity initiatives is deafening.