Open Arms

10 August 2019 an Open Arms ship, in two rescue operations, took 124 people on board; the following day a safe port is requested in Italy, but the ban on entry into territorial waters is notified. On 9 August, the NGO's lawyers ask the competent court of Palermo to disembark the minors; On the 10th, with a new rescue operation, another 39 people are embarked; transfers to the mainland are only allowed for health reasons.  Only on the 14th, after a ruling by the Lazio TAR, did the ship set sail for Lampedusa despite not having permission to enter the port.  In the following days, however, 32 minors and other people in need of medical care were brought ashore; some migrants jump off the ship to try to swim to the island.  Finally, on 20 August, the Agrigento prosecutor boarded the ship and after an inspection ordered the unloading and the emergency preventive seizure of the ship;  on the same day the ship docks in the port of Lampedusa with the last 83 migrants. Subsequently, the former Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini is accused of kidnapping and refusal of official documents, for "keeping 147 migrants rescued by the NGO Open Arms in the middle of the sea for six days,