Rome, 11 June 2024 – Asylum seekers of Silos of Trieste, forced to live in precarious conditions, find no respite. Mayor Roberto Dipiazza signed an order to vacate the structure within fifteen days, with the guests being transferred “out of Trieste”. This provision comes shortly before the visit of Pope Francis on 7 July, an event which saw the pontiff take an interest in the difficult situation of migrants, supported by the local bishop, Monsignor Enrico Trevisi.
The migrants from the Trieste Silos will be transferred
In the provision, migrants are described as “subjects camped in precarious situations on improvised beds, camping tents resting directly on the rough pavement”. In reality, I am ppeople arriving from the Balkan route, asylum seekers who would have the right to reception and assistance while they await the examination of their requests. Despite the manageable numbers, they remain in a state of total abandonment for months.
Trieste associations such as ICS, Linea D’Ombra, International Rescue Committee, Diaconia Valdese, Caritas and San Martino al Campo have long denounced the situation, but the mayor publicly declared that he could not deal with this emergency, focusing on unaccompanied minors. Now, with the eviction order, the mayor has also requested the presence of the police force to carry out the eviction. This despite the prefecture having proposed, in a meeting with the commissioner and the associations, a process of gradual closure of the Silos and transfer of the guests to the Camposacro scout hostel, in Prosecco. “Now we need to understand whether it is a quick intervention or a game of roles. The eviction is just more violence on top of that which thousands of abandoned people have had to suffer in recent years,” commented Gianfranco Schiavone of Ics.
For migrants, in fact, there is no certain destination. “And where will those who have the right to reception according to the law but will arrive the days after the eviction and closure of the place go?”, asks Schiavone. The question seems to have not been answered, much less by Mayor Dipiazza.
According to Dipiazza, the problem is represented by the network of associations that offer assistance that the Municipality does not provide, acting as a “pull factor” for migrants. The mayor also threatened further evictions of the abandoned warehouses in the Old Port, if asylum seekers moved there. “They wanted widespread reception and it was a failure,” said Dipiazza, criticizing the left and suggesting that the use of abandoned barracks would have been a more effective solution. Among other things, the possibility of transferring asylum seekers to the hostel in Via Gioia, a few steps from the Silos, was not even taken into consideration. The building, decommissioned and repurposed in 2022, remains unused although it could easily be made operational. The opposition councillors, after weeks of waiting, they confirmed the feasibility of the project, but the idea was not evaluated by the authorities.
>> All the news from Foreigners in Italy
Click to rate this article!
