Eritreans protest in Italy as more migrants are rescued
By Naomi O’Leary and Steve Scherer
ROME | Fri Oct 25, 2013
(Reuters) – Hundreds of Eritreans staged a symbolic funeral procession in front of Italy’s parliament on Friday to remember refugees who drowned in a shipwreck this month, as ships rescued more than 700 seaborne migrants overnight.
Italian naval and coast guard vessels rescued the migrants, including dozens of women and children, from five different boats in the waters between Sicily and North Africa, as European leaders tried to address a deepening immigration crisis.
On October 3, at least 366 mostly Eritrean men, women and children drowned in one of the worst migrant sea disasters when the boat they had taken from Libya sank less than a kilometer from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta pressed European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to increase aid to Mediterranean countries including Italy, Greece and Malta, which have borne the brunt of the crisis.
Europe “finally took a step in the right direction” on immigration, Letta told reporters after the summit, though it yielded no concrete shifts in EU immigration policy.
Men carried coffins on their shoulders outside Italy’s lower house of parliament to protest at the handling of Monday’s real funeral service for those who drowned off Lampedusa.
The Eritrean ambassador to Italy attended the ceremony, which was held in Sicily, while the 155 survivors of the shipwreck were denied permission to travel from Lampedusa to Sicily, even though many had family members among the dead.
Eritrean men often flee forced military service. Those refugees who reach Italy normally seek political asylum, citing persecution by President Isaias Afewerki’s government, which the United Nations human rights chief has accused of summary executions, torture, and the detention of between 5,000 and 10,000 political prisoners.
Some of the protesters in Rome wore t-shirts reading: “The Afewerki regime is responsible for the dead in Lampedusa.”
“It’s a dictatorship and the situation is very bad in Eritrea,” said Kebir, 38, who fled military service 10 years ago and reached Italy by boat from Libya. “Eritrea is an open-air prison.”
Kebir did not want to give his surname for fear that the government would punish his relatives at home.
Of more than 32,000 migrants who have made the journey to southern Italy by boat so far this year, about a third are Eritrean, according to the United Nations.
(Reporting by Naomi O’Leary and Steve Scherer; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
THANK YOU VERY MUCH WELL DONE ,ERITREA WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU.I HAVE A REMINDER FOR eritreans inside the country. Dear eritreans inside ERITREA. Eritreans out side Eritrea are doing their part.weapons and travel embargo isolation of Eritrea this has deply affected the regime , an amazing demontration like this one today .now it is your turn to stand up and fight, no one is coming to rescue you, FROM the hell you are in ,please raise collectively and individually, make an individual, action on the leaders and family of those people who are suffocating our country .ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
I am so proud to be an Eritrean. Koriekum akriekumna Anabs yehwat! Ezi Higdef hargaf familina wediewo. Hzbna bhasar, bhmam, b bahrie, b maeserti, b tmyet, b frhie, b mfllay, b mktal, b wgee wediewo. Meneseyatna fahfah elom ab every refuge camp, ab every prison, ab every traffikers ed awdikwom zelo merahie ayedlyenan eyue. We need our brothers and sisters out from prisons. We need schools in military camps closed. We need all the youngsters back home with their families. We need our brothers and sisters discharged from military service after two years. Let them leave the country if they want to. People have to have freedom to move from place to place without PASSES. We want our people to have freedom of speech. We want to stop slavery. We need an Election. We need more than one political parties.
wedi hager October 26, 2013
aye eritrawiyan yehwatey, entay amtseo klte bandiera. eza keyh semayawi, hamlawitn si ember do trguma yfeltwa eyom etom eta hanti bandera dihzu
nayeseyas weynay higdef eka aykonetn. ezia nay hzbi eritrea eya.
Danny adhanom October 26, 2013
Nishimu hagerawi ilka nebseka aTemikaya. Natka hagerawinet likiE kem HGDEF nefsom democracyawyan’n fitHawyanin ina kemiziblwo Aynet neger eyu. weyo dea HGDEF xemimkum xemam Hade derfu dea konkum ember eti zaEba bandera aylonen zelo, eti guday bzaEba bsenki blshuwn bElugn miHdera HGDEF hiywet ertrawyan meneseyat yiQzef alo emo yiakil eyu zibehal zelo beAl enTaTiE nzer’e alona. abey ilkmuwo gin beAl begiE r’esi.
Awet October 26, 2013
Wow!
Amazing turnout. Well done participants. I wish I wasn’t 10,0000 mile away. God bless you all!
Kombishtato October 26, 2013
ክብርን ምስጋናን ነቶም ነዚ ሰላማዊ ሰልፊ ዝጠርነፉ ዝተሳተፉን ድምጾም ዘስምዑን ኩሎም።
mike October 26, 2013
A very touching Demonstration !!
Thank you to ALL Eritreans who participated in the ROME demonstration.
Thank you Aman for your hard work !!
Long Live Eritrean Unity !!
Kombishtato October 26, 2013
Eritreans protest in Italy as more migrants are rescued
By Naomi O’Leary and Steve Scherer
ROME | Fri Oct 25, 2013
(Reuters) – Hundreds of Eritreans staged a symbolic funeral procession in front of Italy’s parliament on Friday to remember refugees who drowned in a shipwreck this month, as ships rescued more than 700 seaborne migrants overnight.
Italian naval and coast guard vessels rescued the migrants, including dozens of women and children, from five different boats in the waters between Sicily and North Africa, as European leaders tried to address a deepening immigration crisis.
On October 3, at least 366 mostly Eritrean men, women and children drowned in one of the worst migrant sea disasters when the boat they had taken from Libya sank less than a kilometer from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta pressed European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to increase aid to Mediterranean countries including Italy, Greece and Malta, which have borne the brunt of the crisis.
Europe “finally took a step in the right direction” on immigration, Letta told reporters after the summit, though it yielded no concrete shifts in EU immigration policy.
Men carried coffins on their shoulders outside Italy’s lower house of parliament to protest at the handling of Monday’s real funeral service for those who drowned off Lampedusa.
The Eritrean ambassador to Italy attended the ceremony, which was held in Sicily, while the 155 survivors of the shipwreck were denied permission to travel from Lampedusa to Sicily, even though many had family members among the dead.
Eritrean men often flee forced military service. Those refugees who reach Italy normally seek political asylum, citing persecution by President Isaias Afewerki’s government, which the United Nations human rights chief has accused of summary executions, torture, and the detention of between 5,000 and 10,000 political prisoners.
Some of the protesters in Rome wore t-shirts reading: “The Afewerki regime is responsible for the dead in Lampedusa.”
“It’s a dictatorship and the situation is very bad in Eritrea,” said Kebir, 38, who fled military service 10 years ago and reached Italy by boat from Libya. “Eritrea is an open-air prison.”
Kebir did not want to give his surname for fear that the government would punish his relatives at home.
Of more than 32,000 migrants who have made the journey to southern Italy by boat so far this year, about a third are Eritrean, according to the United Nations.
(Reporting by Naomi O’Leary and Steve Scherer; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/25/us-italy-migrants-idUSBRE99O0PZ20131025
gidus October 26, 2013
Ab Eritrea zelona meniseyat kurub tesfa nigebr alona. Demna endafedese ab michot konkum mengistina yinberelna aytibelu. Hijs kitridiulna zijemeekum timeslu
RAHEL October 26, 2013
THANK YOU VERY MUCH WELL DONE ,ERITREA WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU.I HAVE A REMINDER FOR eritreans inside the country. Dear eritreans inside ERITREA. Eritreans out side Eritrea are doing their part.weapons and travel embargo isolation of Eritrea this has deply affected the regime , an amazing demontration like this one today .now it is your turn to stand up and fight, no one is coming to rescue you, FROM the hell you are in ,please raise collectively and individually, make an individual, action on the leaders and family of those people who are suffocating our country .ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Timnit October 27, 2013
I am so proud to be an Eritrean. Koriekum akriekumna Anabs yehwat! Ezi Higdef hargaf familina wediewo. Hzbna bhasar, bhmam, b bahrie, b maeserti, b tmyet, b frhie, b mfllay, b mktal, b wgee wediewo. Meneseyatna fahfah elom ab every refuge camp, ab every prison, ab every traffikers ed awdikwom zelo merahie ayedlyenan eyue. We need our brothers and sisters out from prisons. We need schools in military camps closed. We need all the youngsters back home with their families. We need our brothers and sisters discharged from military service after two years. Let them leave the country if they want to. People have to have freedom to move from place to place without PASSES. We want our people to have freedom of speech. We want to stop slavery. We need an Election. We need more than one political parties.