Lampedusa: reinforcements at the French borders after the arrival of thousands of migrants

Thibaud Hue, edited by Alexandre Dalifard / Photo credit: ALESSANDRO SERRANÒ / AFP 18:52 pm, September 16, 2023

The migration crisis, which began many years ago in the Mediterranean, has now reached a marker point. Since the beginning of the week, nearly 11,000 migrants from Africa have landed on the island of Lampedusa in Italy. This destination is the first step for these migrants who, often, target England but also France because, as they say, living conditions and social protection are interesting. Faced with this, there are already points of tension at the French borders this Saturday.

"It's become too much"

This is the case, for example, in the Hautes-Alpes and in particular in the town of Briançon where the police already intercept more than 60 migrants a day. This figure is growing and border police services are saturated. Same situation on the side of Savoy where associations fear that the migration crisis of Lampedusa leads to massive arrivals. Mireille Bertho, head of reception for the Savoie Solidarité Migrants association, sounds the alarm because today, accommodation capacities are already not sufficient.

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"It is certain that there will be more miners who will come. Here we are in difficulty because emergency shelters and CHU do not have the means for the moment in line with the needs. For a volunteer association, this has become too much. We tell the public authorities that they must rise to the occasion. Currently, this is no longer possible for us, "she laments at the microphone of Europe 1. More infrastructure and more financial means to be able to provide care, meal distribution and health check-ups. But for the moment, the associations are waiting helplessly, confided Mireille Bertho, these migrants from Italy.