Italy allows stranded migrants to disembark

CATANIA: Italy yesterday disembarked all 150 migrants from a rescue ship that had been docked for five days in a Sicilian port, ending the migrants’ ordeal and a bitter standoff between Rome’s antiestablishment Government and its European Union partners.

The migrants, mainly from Eritrea, had been stranded in the port of Catania since Monday because the Government refused to let them off the boat until other EU states agreed to take some of them in.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Albania had offered to accept 20 of the migrants and Ireland 2025, while the rest would be housed by Italy’s Catholic Church ‘‘at zero cost’’ to the Italian taxpayer.

‘‘The church has opened its heart and opened its wallet,’’ Salvini, from the rightwing League party, told supporters at a rally.

Salvini, who has led a popular crackdown against immigration since the Government took office in June, also announced that he had been placed under investigation by a Sicilian prosecutor for abuse of office, kidnapping and illegal arrest.

‘‘Being investigated for defending the rights of Italians is a disgrace,’’ he said.

On Saturday, the United Nations appealed to EU states to take in the rescued people after a meeting of envoys from 10 EU states in Brussels a day earlier failed to break the deadlock.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte attacked the EU for its lack of support and said Italy might refuse to back the bloc’s multiyear budget, at present under discussion. — Reuters