Mineo- revolts against slow bureaucracy
ctzen – Di Desirée Miranda. Riots have broken out between the Finance Police and immigrants at the Mineo Centre for Asylum Seekers in the Province of Catania. The problems started due to the failure of the Commission, which issues foreigners with documents, to show up and resulted in the throwing of stones, fences and, amongst other objects, manhole covers. Red tape, nonetheless, remains a big problem. “I have been here for a year and ten months and still have to wait,” one of the residents of the Centre, which as a result of the recent arrivals on Lampedusa is becoming ever more crowded, told us.
Riots have broken out between the Finance Police and some of the migrants resident in the Hosting Centre for Asylum Seekers in Mineo. Ten members of the Finance Police have been reported injured, three of whom have been hospitalised in Caltagirone for observation. One was hit on the head by a manhole cover. The force of the impact was absorbed by his helmet and he is not reported to be in a serious condition, according to Ansa newsfeeds. In order to defend themselves from stones, bits of fencing and other blunt objects, news agency reports state that the Finance Police used tear gas in order to force the immigrants to retreat. There have nonetheless been no reports or denials from the Commander of the Finance Police to the contrary.
“I’m not sure how the situation started, but I know there was half and hour of chaos between eight and nine guys and the military,” Tahir, a Pakistani, one of the Centre’s residents told us. The outbreak began all of a sudden following the missed appointment of the Commission, whose job it is to advance the procedures surrounding the issuing of documents for residents in the Centre. Tahir continued, “We had eaten and everything was ok, but then the Commission never showed up and fighting broke out. Now everything is ok and the Commission have arrived.”
The Centre in Mineo can take up to 1,800 people, but currently there are approximately 2,700. This is almost a thousand extra. In the last 24 hours, after the boats once again started arriving on Lampedusa, a further 400 migrants have arrived and another group is due to arrive this evening.
The migrants become referred to as “guests”. They are people who are asking for rights and recognition of permits of stay on humanitarian grounds, but sometimes, often, they are forced to wait excessive lengths of time due to the bureaucracy. Tahir, for example, has been waiting for a year and ten months for his documents, “I don’t know why they don’t arrive, they tell me I have to keep waiting, so here I am.” And according to Riccardo Campochiaro, one of the lawyers assisting the asylum seekers in Mineo there are at least three reasons why it is necessary to wait so long for the much sought after documents. The first is due to the sheer volume of migrants in the system, “A Centre with over 2,000 people simply isn’t manageable” says the lawyer. The second reason is that there is only one Commission to deal with all of the applications, the sub-Commission of Mineo. Finally, there has been a hold up in the system for about a month and a half as the result of a government intervention. “It was decided,” explains Campochiaro, “that all the migrants who had arrived as a result of the situation in Lybia should be issued with a year long humanitarian permit. There are approximately 700 migrants in Mineo who fall into this category.” It could appear that the government initiative, which has only recently been introduced, could go some way to help facilitate the whole procedure of issuing permits, but nonetheless it is just another bureaucratic stumbling block as it is necessary to submit an application to the police headquarters in order for any document to be issued and, “only ten people a day can be seen. Considering how many applicants there actually are, there’s still quite a bit of time left to wait,” concluded Campochiaro.
