On Wednesday (July 3), the crew from the migrant rescue ship MV Louise Michel posted on social media that their boat had been impounded by the Italian authorities for 20 days. This is not the first time the boat has been held by Italy.

In their post on the platform X (formerly known as Twitter), the crew said that this was a "political game played with people seeking safety" and "needs to end immediately."

According to the crew, the boat had only been at sea for a short time, during which they helped rescue 36 migrants, including 17 unaccompanied minors from an "unseaworthy rubber boat in distress" on July 1.

Originally, the crew was ordered to take the migrants for disembarkation in the port of Pozzallo on the main island of Sicily. However, due to predicted bad weather en route, they decided to seek shelter close to the satellite island of Lampedusa.

During the night spent seeking shelter, they received permission to disembark on Lampedusa instead. But later, the crew was informed that the ship was being detained "for not following the order to disembark in Sicily."

Decree on NGO rescue ships

Under an Italian decree that came into force in early 2023, private rescue ships are only supposed to carry out one rescue before immediately sailing to their designated port, often a long way from the rescue zones in the Central Mediterranean.

If they disobey orders, the Italian authorities have the means to impound their vessels or carry out so-called administrative checks for several days before allowing them to set sail again on their next mission.

The crew of the boat claimed that by allowing this policy, "the EU is deliberately restricting civil sea rescue while people are drowning in the Mediterranean in search of safety." They demand the "immediate withdrawal of the detention of the Louise Michel."

Boat launched during music festival

The news comes just days after the artist who funded the Louise Michel, the elusive British artist Banksy, hit the headlines during the British music festival Glastonbury. During the festival, an inflatable boat was launched carrying dummy migrants in the middle of a set by British punk rock band Idles.

At the time, many people thought the boat was a collaboration between the band and Banksy, but it later transpired, reports French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP), that Banksy had decided to launch the boat without the band’s knowledge.

The launch of the boat proved popular with many of the revelers at the festival but was criticized by the incumbent Conservative government. British Home Secretary James Cleverly described the stunt as "vile." 

In a post on X, Cleverly said festival goers "cosplaying as migrants, and celebrating the actions of people smugglers, while they party is awful."

Immigration a theme at Glastonbury

Cleverly reposted a video of the stunt from a man named Chris Rose who describes himself as a Conservative. Rose pointed out in his post that celebrating open borders at a music festival “which has a gigantic fence and very high security,” was ironically "so edgy."

The rubber boat was propelled over the heads of the crowd towards the stage.

Banksy defended his idea on Wednesday (July 3). On Instagram, the street artist wrote that he thought Cleverly’s remarks were "a bit over the top." Banksy said that he thought what was "vile and unacceptable," in his opinion was the fact that the Italian authorities had decided to impound the ship he funded, just after it had helped rescue 17 unaccompanied migrants, and 19 adults from the Central Mediterranean.

One of the themes of this year’s Glastonbury festival was to highlight the debates around immigration, including an exhibition entitled Terminal 1 to help raise awareness about the immigrant experience. Anyone entering the exhibition at the festival was made to pass through a recreated version of a British border and posed questions from the British citizenship test.

Banksy funded the Louise Michel, named after a French feminist anarchist from the time of the Paris Commune, in 2020. He has also donated parts of his considerable fortune to other pro-migrant initiatives.

According to the Louise Michel’s website, last summer, the ship provided "life-saving support to more than 700 people in distress."

With AFP