TAR suspends Musumeci migrant centre closure ordinance

(ANSA) - PALERMO, AUG 28 - The regional administrative court (TAR) in Palermo has suspended an ordinance from Sicily's centre-right governor, Nello Musumeci, ordering the closure of the island's migrant hotspots and reception centres for alleged COVID concerns.
    The TAR upheld a suit from the centre-left government in Rome arguing that migrant policy is the prerogative of central government.
    Centre-right opposition leader Matteo Salvini called the court's ruling "a disgrace".
    Nationalist League party leader Salvini, who as former interior minister operated a closed-ports policy for NGO migrant rescue ships, urged Musumeci to "forge ahead" with his closure policy.
    Musumeci, for his part, complained that the TAR "did not listen to the region".
    Meanwhile the quarantine ship Aurelia which had embarked 273 migrants including 60 COVID positives, was heading towards Trapani.
    Another quarantine ship, Azzurra, with 575 migrants including 15 positives, stayed at Cala Pisana, another port on the island.
    Some 848 migrants left the island of Lampedusa south of Sicily easing the huge pressure on migrant facilities there.
    A pleased Musumeci reacted by saying: "evidently raising your voice is useful".
    Centre-right Governor Musumeci has been engaging in a tug of war with Rome since last weekend.
    Musumeci claims the regional government has precedence over the national government in migrant policy.
    The government in Rome contends the opposite.
    Musumeci said he would forge ahead despite the TAR's decision.
    "Let no one think that a ruling can stop our dutiful action of preserving health," he said.
    "It's up to us, and no one else.
    "And we will go on down this path".
    Salvini has said he would take legal action against the government for abetting illegal immigration and accused the interior ministry of hiding figures on migrant landings.
    The centrist Italia Viva party, part of the governing coalition, has filed a suit against Musumeci and Salvini accusing them of falsely raising alarm and abuse of office, among other things.
    Meanwhile the interior ministry came out with the latest migrant landing figures.
    It said that 17,504 landed in Italy from January 1 to August 25, triple the number that arrived in the same period last year.
    On Tuesday Musumeci said the first migrant hotspot in Sicily was being emptied.
    "This morning they started to empty the hotspot at Pozzallo," the governor said on Facebook.
    Minister for the South Giuseppe Provenzano visited Sicily later Tuesday and allayed concerns that migrants were driving up COVID fears.
    He urged Musumeci to show "institutional decorum" over the migrant-COVID issue.
    The governor issued an ordinance to clear all the island's hotspots and migrant reception centres by midnight Tuesday, but this aim was not achieved.
    Several COVID cases have been reported at the hotspot on the stepping stone island of Lampedusa south of Sicily, which is closer to Africa than to Italy.
    The small island's mayor has assured Salvini that all the COVID-positive migrants there have been isolated in suitable facilities.
    Rightist nationalist Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni said Thursday that Premier Giuseppe Conte had turned his back on Sicily, saying the challenge to Musumeci's ordinance had "betrayed" the island's inhabitants.
    Salvini said Friday Musumeci should "hang tough". (ANSA).