Nazi comparison in abortion attack
SHIPS IN the aid convoy docked yesterday at the Spanish port of Valencia.
Their arrival ended a weeklong ordeal for hundreds of people who were rescued from the Mediterranean only to become the latest pawns in Europe’s battle over immigration. The Italian coastguard vessel
was the first of the three boats bearing the 630 migrants to touch land just before 7am.
The 270 migrants on board soon began to disembark after medical staff had made a preliminary inspection.
The rescue ship came in at 11am with another 106 migrants. Another Italian navy ship, the came in shortly after 1pm.
The operated by the aid groups SOS Mediterranee Sea and Doctors Without Borders, was stuck off the coast of Sicily on June 9 when Italy refused it permission to dock and demanded that Malta do so. Malta also refused.
After days of bickering and food and water running low on the rescue ship, Spain stepped in and offered to grant the rescue boat entry.
The 930-mile journey across the Mediterranean from Sicily to Valencia took nearly a week.
David Noguera, the head of Doctors Without Borders in Spain, said he was glad that Spain allowed the migrants in but he was worried that more European nations would close their ports to those rescued at sea in the future.
“I have mixed feelings,” he told The Associated Press as the first boat arrived. “I am happy that the journey (for the migrants) is over – a journey that was too long – and I am worried for the situation in the Mediterranean and the closing of European ports.”
The migrants were met by emergency workers, health officials, Red Cross volunteers and psychologists at the city’s marina.
Each was assigned to a translator and authorities worked to determine their identities before they were sent to welcome centres. The first migrant was a 29-year-old man from South Sudan.
Valencia emergency official Jorge Suarez said some migrants were in a state of shock.
Spanish authorities say they will examine the migrants’ case by case to see who may qualify for asylum. A police official said the migrants have been granted a special authorisation to remain in the country for 45 days before they must begin resolving their legal situation.
Pope Francis has denounced abortion as the “white glove” equivalent of the Nazi-era eugenics programme and urged families to accept the children that God gives them.
Francis spoke to a meeting of an Italian family association. He lamented how some couples choose not to have any children, while others use pre-natal testing to see if their baby has any malformations. “The murder of children. To have an easy life, they get rid of an innocent,” he said.