Mayor of Lampedusa says his island is ‘collapsing’ because of Muslim migrant violence and crime

Martello is right, and it’s only going to get worse, because everyone who calls attention to the devastation these migrants are causing is excoriated as a racist-islamophobic-anti-Muslim-bigot, as Martello himself will soon discover.

“Mayor of Lampedusa says the Italian island is ‘collapsing’ because of violence and crime committed by large numbers of migrants,” by Iain Burns, Mailonline, September 19, 2017 (thanks to Lookmann):

The mayor of Lampedusa has that warned his Italian island is ‘collapsing’ after ‘threats, harassments and thefts’ caused by migrants from North Africa.

The tiny island in the Mediterranean has for years been a reception centre for hundreds of thousands of migrants heading into Europe.

It became world famous for its ‘welcome culture’ as the several thousand locals helped Africans who landed on the island’s shore after making the voyage from Libya and Tunisia.

But new mayor Salvatore Martello, who was re-elected in June, has said that Lampedusa ‘has to change’ its welcoming ways, according to Ansa news agency.

In an open letter, Martello said: ‘Threats, harassments, thefts, Lampedusa is about to collapse.’

He said police are ‘powerless’ and demanded the closure of the island’s ‘useless’ migrant centre.

The mayor also said that – ‘unfortunately’ – ‘asking migrants to respect the same rules that apply to Lampedusans and other Italian citizens, according to some people, means being “racist”.’

He also attacked migrants who had made the voyage from Africa, explaining: ‘The bars are full of Tunisians who are drunk and harass women.

‘I receive tens of messages from frightened tourists, hoteliers, traders and restaurateurs who suffer daily.’

He said there are ‘180 Tunisians in the center’ who are easily ‘circumventing’ security rules.

Giusi Nicolini – who was given the UNESCO peace prize for her ‘humanity’ in helping migrants – said: ‘This is an attempt to restore the climate of fear that existed on Lampedusa before my election’.

Lampedusa, he added, had been ‘abandoned’.

Martello’s predecessor, however, accused him of promoting panic and dismissed his worries as minor episodes….