(AFP) Most of the adult migrants rescued by the Ocean Viking NGO in the Mediterranean have been denied entry into France, which allowed the vessel to disembark after Italy blocked access to its ports, the interior ministry said Friday.
The standoff has rekindled the EU immigration debate and heightened tensions between France and Italy’s new far-right government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
After pleading for days to be allowed to dock in Italy, the Ocean Viking and its 234 rescued migrants disembarked at the French port of Toulon in what the French government called an “exceptional” decision.
