ROME, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Sea Watch humanitarian vessel with 47 rescued migrants on board should head to "Amsterdam or Berlin", Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Saturday in reference to the ship anchored one nautical mile off the Sicilian port city of Siracusa.
The Dutch-flagged Sea Watch vessel run by a German aid group anchored near Sicily amid stormy seas on Friday, but has not been given the permission to dock anywhere since it rescued 47 shipwreck survivors off Libya last Saturday.
"They can investigate me and threaten me, but I won't change my mind," the minister tweeted Saturday afternoon in reference to the fact that a special tribunal is seeking an indictment against him on charges of kidnapping and abuse of power in reference to a stand-off over rescued migrants.
Last August, Salvini refused for a week to let over 100 migrants disembark from the Italian Coast Guard's Diciotti vessel after its crew had rescued them in the Mediterranean.
"Italy's ports remain closed to migrant smugglers and their accomplices. A Dutch ship belonging to a German NGO (non-governmental organization)? Amsterdam or Berlin are expecting you," tweeted Salvini, who also serves as deputy prime minister and whose rightwing, anti-immigrant League is currently the number one party in Italy.
However, not all Siracusa residents agree with Salvini, Mayor Francesco Italia told Sky TG24 private broadcaster in an interview earlier in the day.
"Civil organizations and citizens have written and called me, offering (the rescued migrants) places to stay in their own homes," said the mayor. "Certain values come before politics. If there are people in trouble, no matter their nationality, they must be welcomed and given assistance".
Also on Saturday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR issued a joint statement expressing "serious concern" over the 47 migrants and refugees aboard the Sea Watch vessel, which include 13 minors, saying they must be "immediately" granted the right to disembark in the nearest port.
In televised comments on Friday, Salvini said that he wrote the Dutch government requesting it "deal with" the vessel and its passengers.
The Dutch government replied that the Sea Watch is not its problem, and that the Netherlands won't step in unless long-term solutions are agreed upon at the European Union (EU) level, Italian news agency ANSA reported, citing Dutch media.
Almost 200 people have died in the Mediterranean since the start of the year, of whom at least 130 in the waters between Libya and Europe, according to the UNHCR.
