Invasion of Europe news…..
First off, I wanted to know who the h*** is Banksy?
Turns out he is an anonymous British street artist who is apparently rolling in dough—enough dough to fund a vessel that will bring more invaders to Europe nevermind any silly little lockdown (what pandemic?) that keeps you from visiting Europe!
Editor: By the way, I guess my August recess is over. Back to work!
From the BBC yesterday:
Migrant rescue: UN urges help as 200 taken off Banksy rescue boat
The UN Refugee Agency says almost 400 refugees and migrants rescued by three ships in the Mediterranean must be allowed to disembark safely.
A joint statement issued with the International Organization for Migration said it was a “humanitarian imperative to save lives”.
Italy’s coastguard evacuated 49 people from an overloaded rescue vessel funded by British artist Banksy.
Watch some of the rescue here:
Another rescue boat SeaWatch 4 later took the remaining 150 on board.
The crew of the Louise Michel had earlier tweeted a call for immediate assistance. European authorities had not responded adequately, they said. Sea Watch 4 said late on Saturday it was now carrying 350 people who needed to disembark as soon as possible.
Chris Grodotzki, part of the Sea Watch 4 rescue team, told the BBC the people it picked up were “sea sick, they showed signs of fuel burns, they were disorientated, dehydrated”.
He said the situation on board was currently “stable” but that the vessel would not be able to carry that number of people for a long period of time.
“The decks are stuffed,” he said. “People are crammed together.”
[….]
The UNHCR and the IOM said the lack of a deal on a regional landing system could not be an excuse to deny vulnerable people safe harbour.
[….]
According to UN data, 443 people have died or have gone missing trying to cross the Mediterranean from north Africa so far in 2020.
Slightly more than 40,000 have arrived in Europe by sea during the same period.
So what lucky country will be getting this latest batch? We will be watching.
Sigh, don’t we all miss Matteo Salvini who briefly slowed the invasion.
See my ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive which extends back for more than a decade.