Pack your bags, the free ride is over, Italy tells migrants

ITALY’S new populist government has told migrants: ‘It’s time to pack your bags.’

Repeating an election pledge to expel asylum seekers, deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the League party, told a Republic Day rally on Saturday: ‘The free ride is over. ’

Last week he said ‘send them home’ will be the guiding philosophy of the government when dealing with immigrants ‘who come to Italy to create commotion and think they will be taken care of’. Republic Day, with its pomp-filled military parade, took on a particular significance this year after extremist parties ended months of political and financial turmoil last week and swore in a government with deeply Eurosceptic leanings.

The League, which has aligned with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, has promised a programme to force an estimated 400,000 migrants – primarily asylum seekers – back to their countries of origin.