ROME: More than 1,200 migrants reached Italy over the weekend after attempting the perilous sea passage from Africa in flimsy vessels, the Italian coast guard said yesterday.
The coast guard said it had rescued most of the migrants at sea after intercepting nearly 20 boats and was still searching for others but it could not confirm reports that up to 10 people had died during the attempted crossing.
This year’s first wave of summer heat has brought with it relatively calm waters, prompting impoverished immigrants desperately seeking work in the European Union to set off in rubber rafts and wooden boats. Many do not survive the passage.
Italian media reported that 95 immigrants were saved from a large raft. The survivors told of as many as 10 who had died after a Tunisian fishing boat cut loose the tuna cages it was dragging and that several immigrants were clinging onto.
“We do not have a confirmation of this,” a coast guard spokeswoman said. “These are rumors from people we rescued but we found no bodies.”
Italy’s Foreign Ministry said it had not heard of the incident, which reportedly took place in international waters.
In 2008, a picture of 27 Somali immigrants clinging to the tuna nets of an Italian fishing boat came to symbolize a tragic summer in which many boats sank in choppy waters during the crossover, drowning unknown numbers.
Thousands of immigrants seek the southern shores of Italy every summer, when the waters in the Strait of Sicily become calm enough for small boats to make the crossing, usually from Libya or Tunisia.
They come seeking work in the EU and many do not remain in Italy. Those who do, or who are taken into Italian custody, can be sent home.
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More than 1,200 migrants reach Italy by boat, drownings reported
More than 1,200 migrants reach Italy by boat, drownings reported
UK police to arrest those chanting ‘globalize the intifada’
- Pro-Palestinian groups say the move will infringe on the right to protest and misunderstands the meaning of the word
- UK police say the context surrounding the chants has changed after the Bondi Beach attack
LONDON: People publicly chanting pro-Palestinian calls to “globalize the intifada” will be arrested, UK police warned Wednesday, saying the “context had changed” in the wake of Australia’s Bondi Beach attack.
The announcement by the police forces of London and the northwest English city of Manchester swiftly prompted accusations of political repression by some campaigners.
The move follows father-and-son gunmen killing 15 people Sunday at a Hanukkah festival on the Sydney beach and an October attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
“We know communities are concerned about placards and chants such as ‘globalize the intifada’,” the UK capital’s Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police said in a joint statement vowing to “be more assertive.”
“Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed — words have meaning and consequence. We will act decisively and make arrests.”
Jewish groups welcomed the announcement, with the UK’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis calling it “an important step toward challenging the hateful rhetoric we have seen on our streets, which has inspired acts of violence and terror.”
But Ben Jamal, from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said in a statement that it infringes on the right to protest.
“The statement by the Met and GMP marks another low in the political repression of protest for Palestinian rights,” he said, ahead of a planned central London pro-Palestinian protest Wednesday evening.
He criticized the lack of consultation over the move, adding “the Arabic word intifada means shaking off or uprising against injustice.”
‘Sickening’
“It came to prominence during the first intifada which was overwhelmingly marked by peaceful protest that was brutally repressed by the Israeli state,” Jamal said.
The intifada refers to Palestinian uprisings against Israel. The first raged from 1987 to 1993, while the second flared between 2000 and 2005.
UK police have already stepped up security around the country’s synagogues, Jewish schools and community hubs in the wake of this year’s violent incidents.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged Australia to act against a “surge” of antisemitism after Sunday’s atrocity, echoing similar previous demands aimed at Britain.
In a social media post, Saar branded slogans heard at pro-Palestinian protests such as “Globalize the Intifada” “Death to the IDF,” the Israeli military, as antisemitic and violent incitement.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose wife is Jewish, denounced the weekend gun rampage in Australia as “sickening,” saying it was “an antisemitic terrorist attack against Jewish families.”
Chief prosecutor Lionel Idan said Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was “already working closely with police and communities to identify, charge and prosecute antisemitic hate crimes.”
“We will always look at ways we can do more,” he added.
Hate crime referrals and completed prosecutions rose by 17 percent to 15,561 in the year to June 2025, according to the CPS.
The announcement by the police forces of London and the northwest English city of Manchester swiftly prompted accusations of political repression by some campaigners.
The move follows father-and-son gunmen killing 15 people Sunday at a Hanukkah festival on the Sydney beach and an October attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
“We know communities are concerned about placards and chants such as ‘globalize the intifada’,” the UK capital’s Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police said in a joint statement vowing to “be more assertive.”
“Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed — words have meaning and consequence. We will act decisively and make arrests.”
Jewish groups welcomed the announcement, with the UK’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis calling it “an important step toward challenging the hateful rhetoric we have seen on our streets, which has inspired acts of violence and terror.”
But Ben Jamal, from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said in a statement that it infringes on the right to protest.
“The statement by the Met and GMP marks another low in the political repression of protest for Palestinian rights,” he said, ahead of a planned central London pro-Palestinian protest Wednesday evening.
He criticized the lack of consultation over the move, adding “the Arabic word intifada means shaking off or uprising against injustice.”
‘Sickening’
“It came to prominence during the first intifada which was overwhelmingly marked by peaceful protest that was brutally repressed by the Israeli state,” Jamal said.
The intifada refers to Palestinian uprisings against Israel. The first raged from 1987 to 1993, while the second flared between 2000 and 2005.
UK police have already stepped up security around the country’s synagogues, Jewish schools and community hubs in the wake of this year’s violent incidents.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar urged Australia to act against a “surge” of antisemitism after Sunday’s atrocity, echoing similar previous demands aimed at Britain.
In a social media post, Saar branded slogans heard at pro-Palestinian protests such as “Globalize the Intifada” “Death to the IDF,” the Israeli military, as antisemitic and violent incitement.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose wife is Jewish, denounced the weekend gun rampage in Australia as “sickening,” saying it was “an antisemitic terrorist attack against Jewish families.”
Chief prosecutor Lionel Idan said Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was “already working closely with police and communities to identify, charge and prosecute antisemitic hate crimes.”
“We will always look at ways we can do more,” he added.
Hate crime referrals and completed prosecutions rose by 17 percent to 15,561 in the year to June 2025, according to the CPS.
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