(AFP) Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini threatened Sunday to shut the country’s airports after media reported that Germany planned to send charter flights of rejected asylum-seekers to Italy.
“If someone in Berlin or Brussels thinks of dropping dozens of migrants via non-authorised charter flights in Italy, they should know that there is not and there will be no airport available,” Salvini said on Twitter.
“We will close the airports like we closed our ports,” he added in reference to Italy’s decision this summer to ban migrant rescue boats from entering its harbours.
His comments came after German news agency DPA reported Sunday that Berlin intended to start returning rejected asylum-seekers to Italy via chartered flights.
