the country declares a state of emergency in the face of the migration crisis

Turquoise water and a white sand beach. Behind its postcard-like appearance, this seaside resort in Calabria is on the front line in the face of the migration crisis. The port of Roccella Ionica, until then accustomed to disembarking a maximum of 80 people, must now manage hundreds of arrivals at the same time and dramas, which it had never experienced before. Behind these gates, guarded by the police, the last to arrive, intercepted at sea two days ago and managed by Red Cross volunteers, sometimes overwhelmed.

“I don’t ever want to go through this again”

The reception center has no hard building, just a few unheated tents and stretchers for beds. Leaving from Libya, they almost all come from Egypt and lived through hell at sea for six days, like this 24-year-old young man: “They only gave us a little bread, hardly any water. They hit us. I never want to go through that again.”