Imagine this scene as beachgoers on the Italian mainland watched as a boatload of mostly Egyptians landed in front of them and the would-be asylum-seekers scampered ashore and into the hills.
Amazing that it’s been 40 years since French writer Jean Raspail envisioned the invasion of Europe by the Third World in his dark novel The Camp of the Saints. How did he know?
This is the news yesterday from the UK Telegraph:
From her deckchair on a beach in southern Italy, Gina Bova watched with interest as the small, rickety fishing boat was pushed by the waves closer to the shore. It was a windy Saturday afternoon in August, and the beach was packed with holidaying families, picnicking on tubs of home made pasta and fresh figs.
But suddenly, as the boat hit the shallow sandbank, the passengers sprung overboard and made a dash to the shore, with police in hot pursuit.
“But there were lots more migrants than police,” said Mrs Bova, 63. “The police grabbed a few of them, but most ran up the beach and off into the hills. There wasn’t a lot anyone could do.”
Her feeling of inevitability is one shared by the Italian authorities – and their counterparts across Europe.
Around 1,000 migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa have landed in Italy in the last week alone, and the waves of migrants show no sign of decreasing.
There is more, read it all.
For all of our posts on the invasion of Italy, go here.