Collection of Statements of South Italian Mayors

Mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando

I am willing to welcome all the ships that save human lives. Palermo, the city that from its own name is ‚a whole port‘, has been and will always be ready to welcome the ships, civil or military, committed to saving lives in the Mediterranean Sea. Those ships and those men who respect the law of the sea and international law, avoiding the deaths of men, women and children who someone would like to deliver into the hands of international criminality. Who is violating the international law, the one that imposes the priority of saving lives, is the Italian Minister of the Interior who has further demonstrated the cultural nature of the extreme right-wing Northern League (Lega Nord). Palermo is „racist“ because we think that there is only one race, the human race. Who does not understand it is a Nazi criminal. We will denounce the government if its behavior should continue to be this. Palermo is ready to welcome all the ships that save lives.

Mayor of Trapani, Giacomo Tranchida (newly elected)

We are available to welcome the Aquarius ship and we are available to face any future emergency concerning migrants and rescues at sea. Trapani is at he same time a door and and port of the Mediterranean Sea, it will not be Salvini to influence our history. Sharing responsibility with other ports – starting from the one in Palermo that said it is willing to welcome ships of migrants – we will continue to offer a support service, together with the other authorities, including the port authority.

Mayor of Taranto, Rinaldo Melucci

I am ready to embrace every life in danger, without „ifs“ and „buts“. At sea there are international laws and customs that can’t be cancelled with a simple internal memo. On the political field, however, for me we are talking about human lives that always have priority over political and regulatory measures. Ours has always been a land of welcome, I really do not know how to reject 629 human lives.

Mayor of Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Falcomatà

We are available as always in front of women, men and children who need help. Our heart is big. Bigger than those who want to speculate without a shred of humanity.

Mayor of Naples, Luigi de Magistris

If a heartless minister lets pregnant women, children, the elderly, human beings die at sea, the port of Naples is ready to welcome them. We are human, with a big heart. Naples is ready, without money to save lives. Salvini took a brutal decision against all national and international laws. Just as, if confirmed, the declaration of extraneousness of the Maltese government seems to us to be wrong. Against the brutal decisions that jeopardize human lives and against the „passes of the buck“, Naples, a solidarity city that has always been sided with those who ask to be helped, takes a clear position: let’s open the seaport, let’s organize immediately aid and assistance. For us human life continues to have an absolute value, without distinction of skin color.

Outgoing mayor of Messina, Renato Accorinti

I am „shocked“ both from a humanitarian point of view and from the „laws of the sea“. We can’t forget of the universal human rights and the right of navigation in which the human being is sacred regardless of the color of the skin and the country of ‚origin. It is a primary duty to welcome people and to a dehumanizing policy we answer with a policy made up of people’s rights and values. For this reason, in spite of the dictates of Minister Salvini, the Accorinti administration declares its immediate availability so that the ship Aquarius can dock at the city port.

Source :: ffm-online.org (11. Jun 2018)