The prefect’s office said the operation was planned during meetings focused on shared strategies, including securing the area, which has been under monitoring since repeated fires in December led to the closure of three disused warehouses. The office added that the operation formed part of its weekly efforts to "lighten the burden on the reception system with the transfer of asylum seekers to reception centers" across Italy.

'116 asylum seekers taken into care'

The prefect's office said that the operation "will make it possible to take into care 116 asylum seekers who had found temporary shelter in the dilapidated buildings located in Porto Vecchio." Of them, "about half have filed asylum requests in surrounding areas. Most of the rest expressed the desire to request international protection today, after police identification procedures."

The asylum seekers, through UNHCR staff on the ground, "were duly informed of the operations underway and on the possibility to be hosted" in government-provided facilities, they said, adding that they were also "given medical examinations by local health authorities personnel (ASUGI) -- in full respect for personal dignity and health precautions -- before being accompanied on coaches provided by the prefect's office to reach their destination."

The prefect's office added that refreshments had been provided.

Taking part in the operation were state police, carabinieri, financial police, local police, the prefect's office, UNHCR, ASUGI, and other healthcare personnel; volunteers and technical experts from the civil defense; and volunteers from the Caritas Catholic charity, who distributed meals.

Read AlsoOn patrol near the Italo-Slovenian border

'Eviction left over 100 people homeless'

According to the Italian Consortium of Solidarity, Refugee Office NGO (ICS), the latest eviction, "as was the case with the previous one on December 3, led to the same result: the number of places available for transfers was insufficient compared with needs, leaving over a hundred people homeless, some also for months."

"Among those present at the time of the eviction, about one hundred were actually transferred," ICS continued.

"The selection criteria used appear entirely opaque, not taking into account either the timeline of the filing of the asylum requests nor conditions of vulnerability," it added.

"Once more, the priority of the operation was shown to be that of the sealing of the warehouses of Porto Vecchio -- in today's case, that of building number 4 -- rather than migrant reception or taking people into care."

The NGO noted that the latest eviction "happened even though, in the weeks following the previous one in December, transfers to other facilities were conducted regularly. It is therefore difficult to understand the need for special, costly, and media-spectacle operations like this, which was, moreover, insufficient. A more solid and transparent planning of the weekly transfers would prevent both the abandoning [of the people] in the streets and the repetition of these 'spectacles'; clearly saving public money."

ICS added: "What is happening in Porto Vecchio can no longer be recounted as if it were a sequence of unexpected emergencies. We are dealing with management that is structurally inadequate, and that does not ensure dignity and respect for basic human rights."

Read AlsoItaly: NGOs highlight 'serious recurring obstacles' to asylum requests in Trieste

Brothers of Italy MP urges 'restoring security'

Brothers of Italy MP and provincial secretary of the party, Nicole Matteoni, instead praised the eviction, saying that it had relied on "excellent coordination by the prefect's office and the police headquarters and involved over 100 homeless migrants that had been camping out in buildings in the area, causing degradation and situations lacking security and hygiene."

"The activities involved the identification of people and whether they were documented or not", he noted, "to ascertain whether they are legally here and the possibility to include them in the reception system and transfer to other centers in the country. The stable presence of camps [of migrants] and illegal squatting creates problems, especially in the shipyards of the port, with repercussions on the safety of workers and the cleanliness of the area." He went on to thank the security forces.

Read AlsoItaly: Pakistanis hold sit-in in Asti, demand refugee status