23 buses for the transfer of migrants evacuate Porto Empedocle.

Last Updated: August 27, 2023

Over 1,200 migrants, including women and children, who are currently in the pre-identification area at the port of Porto Empedocle will be transferred by the afternoon. The Prefecture of Agrigento has arranged for 23 buses to transport the migrants to reception centers in Sicily and the rest of the Peninsula. However, the area will not be empty for long as approximately 600 migrants, who are being transferred by the police from the hotspot to the port of Lampedusa, are expected to arrive in the evening. On Monday evening, there were moments of chaos in the pre-identification area, with a risk of a revolt, as operators and Red Cross volunteers distributed sandwiches and water bottles. Yesterday, in an attempt to calm tensions and explain to the majority of migrants that they would be transferred within a few hours, Vice Prefect Gabriele Barbaro, head of the Immigration Office of the Prefecture, organized and personally played a soccer match with the young North Africans in the area.