Residents in the French capital Paris have expressed safety concerns over the latest wave of illegal immigrants coming from the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Several local residents touched on the issue of immigration with the French broadcaster CNews, with most of them being concerned about security. They feared that the City of Lights could see an influx of migrants, given that tens of thousands have been landing on Italian shores in recent weeks.
One resident of the 18th arrondissement (district) near the Jardins d'Eole public park told the channel: "We don't feel safe." They explained that a number of newcomers to the neighborhood had taken part in civil disorder and organized crime, including drug trafficking.
"They fight and cause problems," said another resident. This second resident admitted she felt scared and intimidated by groups of adult loitering in her neighborhood.
Residents aren't the only ones with these sentiments, however. Even local politicians have spoken out against the recent degradation seen on Paris' streets. According to Remix News, many new arrivals to the French capital resort to sleeping on the street and establishing ghettos because social services are saturated.
"You regularly have clashes, causes of alcoholism and drug addiction on the public roads of these neighborhoods," said Pierre Liscia, regional councilor for Ile-de-France – the region where Paris is located. "Unfortunately, networks of crack traffickers … take advantage of the presence of these people."
Meanwhile, other elected officials have called for strong measures to be put in place to relocate newcomers from the streets to more secure accommodations in an attempt to clean up affected neighborhoods.
"I am calling for a major emergency plan for the northeast of Paris to get migrants out of the street is the dignity that we owe them, and thus resolve the problem of local residents who are on the frontline of nuisances and inconveniences,” said Parisian councilor Pierre-Yves Bournazel, who represents the 18th arrondissement.
Poland and Hungary say NO TO MIGRANTS
Located in the Mediterranean Sea, the small island of Lampedusa "has been inundated with scores of illegal migrants arriving in small boats from the African mainland," Remix News said. Many of the migrants that land there "continue to migrate to the north of Italy and cross into France and Germany," eventually heading to Paris.
The European Union is currently discussing asylum reforms to prevent migrants from entering the continent and traveling at will to desired, more prosperous nations. If ratified, the EU migration pact will see countries mandated to receive their fair share of migrants – with fines awaiting nations that fail to comply.
However, both Hungary and Poland have opposed the pact as it infringes on their national sovereignty. Despite pushback from Warsaw and Budapest, initial proposals were passed in the European Parliament by qualified majority voting.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his government will never agree to the EU's asylum proposals, adding that Poles "do not want another Lampedusa in Poland." He also reiterated Warsaw's commitment to border security, something that Brussels wants to abolish according to Morawiecki.
Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed that Brussels had "legally raped" Budapest by forcing the migration pact with the help of pro-migration allies. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he reiterated the Hungarian government's intention to reject the proposals.
"There will be no compromise on migration – not today, and not in the upcoming years," wrote Orban. "We will defend our borders from migrants and from the Brussels bureaucrats as well."
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