A migrant rescue ship funded and supported by British artist Banksy was blocked for 20 days by the Italian authorities.
The MV Louise Michel, named after the 19th century French anarchist, was held on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa on March 25 without an official written explanation. He was then ordered to head for the port of Trapani and was told on March 27 that he would be detained for breaking a recently enacted law that prevents ships from making multiple rescue trips.
The ship, a converted French navy ship, had rescued 180 people during four missions on March 25. In response to his arrest, the crew said that “the sole purpose of the Executive Order is the blocking of rescue vessels, voluntarily taking into account fatalities”. of people on the move. He pledged to take all available avenues to fight detention.
As the crew of the MV Louise Michel pointed out on their social media accounts, at least 29 people drowned off the coast of Tunisia while trying to reach Italy on March 26.
The legislation is part of a larger initiative by Giorgia Meloni, the newly elected right-wing Prime Minister, to undermine the efforts of NGOs carrying out search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean. In the first months of 2023, Italy saw the number of migrants arriving by boat triple compared to the previous year, in part due to routes from Turkey, Greece and the Balkans to be blocked.
by Banksy participation in humanitarian rescue missions arrived unannounced when he emailed Pia Klemp, an experienced captain of several NGO boats, asking if she could use the money to buy a boat. The MV Louise Michel was purchased with proceeds from Banksy’s art sales in October 2019 and is spray painted with a girl wearing a life jacket and holding a heart-shaped safety buoy.
He began rescue missions in August 2020 and operates on a flat hierarchy and a vegan diet.
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