Many migrants are continuing to live in dire conditions in abandoned buildings in the northeastern city of Trieste even though the former warehouse Silos, a facility close to the train station that had become a shelter for hundreds of asylum seekers, was shut down in June.
The situation of homeless migrants is becoming increasingly dire in the northeastern city of Trieste. In addition to dozens of people sleeping rough near the exit of the Old Port, many abandoned buildings nearby, once used as warehouses, are housing about 100 migrants.
The shelters resemble those that were housed within the ex-warehouse Silos just a few steps from the city center.
At night, the broken windows of the large warehouses show makeshift lights and shadows in movement. During the day, instead, migrants are busy with everyday activities, sheltered from public view.
Some prepare something to eat, others hang out clothes or cut their hair, just a few steps from the sea and the city center.
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Homeless
According to a provisional estimate, about 100 migrants are living in the area. The situation is similar to the conditions in which migrants lived when they were camping in the silos. There is an absence of bathrooms, poor hygiene and no garbage containers.
Some of the migrants staying at the former warehouses used to live in the Silos; others have sought shelter after arriving through the Balkan route.
A group of young Pakistanis said, since the summer, about 50 people have been living inside a former warehouse that is close to the city center. Others have sought shelter in other abandoned buildings, including former deposits and sheds in the vast area of the old port. Some migrants are also sleeping in an old train carriage that was abandoned on the tracks around 20 years ago.
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