Italian Minister says let navy shoot at immigrants

[Grojlach]

Minister says let navy shoot at immigrants

16.06.2003 - 13:45
ROME (Reuters) - A senior minister in the Italian government has said he wants navy and coastguard vessels to open fire using live rounds on any boats carrying illegal immigrants to Italy's shores.
Umberto Bossi, reforms minister in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative coalition, said in an interview published on Monday he was sick of illegal immigrants and wanted to hear "the blast of cannons".
"After the second or third warning, bang... we fire the cannon," Bossi told Corriere della Sera newspaper.
"Without too much talking. A cannon to knock out whoever may be there. Otherwise we're never going to put an end to this problem."
Asked whether it would be right to fire on immigrants who are generally unarmed women and children, Bossi was firm.
"Whether they're good or bad, one way or the other illegal immigrants have got to be chased away. The navy and coastguard should defend our shores and use their cannons to do it. That's the best way to enforce the law.
No deferring or turning back."
At present, the Italian navy is only permitted to board boats at sea and escort them back to port, in line with international practice.
Bossi's comments come in the wake of a recent surge in illegal immigration, with more than 1,000 people landing in southern Italy in the last three days and nearly 3,000 so far in June, most of them from north and central Africa.
In the first six months of this year, however, new arrivals have fallen sharply to around half the level of last year.
Bossi, who heads the right-wing Northern League party and co-authored a tough new immigration last year, said that if the government didn't start taking a harder line, he would pull his support for the coalition.
At the weekend, a senior member of his party called for the Interior minister to resign over the immigration issue. Bossi backed away from that call, but said he was getting to the end of his tether and wanted action soon.
"Whether the government's allies agree or not, I want to hear the sound of the cannons by the end of the week or I'm off," he said.

Source: Swiss Politics

[ 06-16-2003, 06:38 PM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]

[Larry_OHF]

Wow...the man means business, doesn't he? I know there are lots of people in the U.S. that would say that we should be doing the same thing for our borders, as our leniency is highly taken advantage of...

I wonder if we would ever become so desperate as to copy this man's decision? I doubt it, but then again...strange things are happening in these days.

[Ramon de Ramon y Ramon]

Well, please, Grojlach, don't be too hard on poor Signore Bossi. You see, if my memory serves me correctly, the Italian naval forces have not achieved anything of importance since the days of the Romans and that sad fact must of course irk a proud patriot like Signore Bossi: after they have practiced enough by sinking a couple of hundreds of unarmed and overloaded fishing trawlers carrying equally unarmed illegal immigrants, they will then take on the Maltese navy.

[Faceman]

That reminds me of an old one:

A plane goes down over the Atlantic. On board are Berlusconi, Bossi and Fini.
Who is saved?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Italy!

[Faceman]

Oh,

And you Americans are damn lucky the Indians did not have a navy!

[Barry the Sprout]

Can't say this suprises me - it is a member of Berusconi's government. But all the same, its a bit concerning...

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by Faceman: Oh, And you Americans are damn lucky the Indians did not have a navy!

I have Cherokee Indian blood in my veins from both sides of my family, as close as my Great Grandmother who just died last year was a half-blood. The Cherokee that stayed behind and hid in the Mountains of North Carolina instead of taking the Trail of Tears were married into the families and taken care of and loved...not run off or slaughtered. I don't share any heritage with the invading force that drove them away.

I don't like the finger-pointing phrase of "You Americans".

[ 06-16-2003, 11:23 PM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[Faceman]

I apologize.
There was no offense intended in that post.

I just wanted to point out that immigration has always been a normal event in history and that it is ridicolous to react with such harsh counter-measures.

[Barry the Sprout]

Originally posted by Faceman: I apologize. There was no offense intended in that post. I just wanted to point out that immigration has always been a normal event in history and that it is ridicolous to react with such harsh counter-measures.

Couldn't agree more, but theres no doubt that immigratiobn causes problems in the short term. Its just that blaming everything on the immigrants is a bit daft really... its the immigrants fault that the budgets gone into deficit! Despite the fact that they only just got here!

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: Wow...the man means business, doesn't he? I know there are lots of people in the U.S. that would say that we should be doing the same thing for our borders, as our leniency is highly taken advantage of...

Yeah, I know one of the intimately and personally.