Mayor protests to PM

An NGO rescue ship carrying 87 migrants docked in the Spanish port of Algeciras yesterday amid a protest from the city’s mayor that it did not have the resources to cope with the new arrivals. Jose Ignacio Landaluce, the conservative mayor of the Andalusian city, said Madrid had neither consulted nor informed him of the arrival of the Open Arms, which Italy turned away after rescue operations in the Mediterranean. Demanding that Pedro Sanchez, the prime minister, visit Algeciras to ‘‘see the reality’’ of the migration crisis, Landaluce, of the opposition Popular Party, said that local authorities had not received ‘‘even a dime’’ from central government. ‘‘The Spanish have big hearts, yes, but on this issue we have to use our heads because there is not enough money,’’ said the mayor. In July, Spain overtook Italy to become the largest European gateway for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, with 23,741 arriving on its shores so far this year – almost triple the same period in 2017 – according to the International Organisation for Migration. Officials and analysts attribute the surge primarily to the crackdown on the central Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy, which has pushed migrants towards the alternative western route from Morocco to Spain. In the face of a ban on rescue ships by Matteo Salvini, Italy’s antiimmigration interior minister, Spain has now also repeatedly stepped into the breach since it first offered safe harbour to the Aquarius and its 630 migrants in June.