Refugees protest in Lampedusa, causing headaches for locals

Lampedusa has long been a reception point for asylum-seekers fleeing northern Africa, but the creation of a hotspot (pictured above) in late 2015 has brought new difficulties to the island. At just 20 kilometers square, Lampedusa is too small to host potential refugees, according to locals, who worry of negative impacts on their vital tourism industry.

Tension reached a climax in the past week, as refugees began occupying a town plaza to protest their detention. Muhammad Jama, a 17-year-old Somali, said he was participating because hotspot authorities won't let him leave until he registers with fingerprints. "If I give them that, I have to stay in Italy," he said. "Italy is not a solution for us."

Ali Addow, a Somali who was stranded at sea nine days before a rescue boat brought him to Lampedusa, said he has been in the hotspot for two months. "We came from war, al-Shabab destroyed my country," Addow said. "I don't know why they can't see us as refugees like the Syrians in Germany. Maybe they just don't like us."

Tuesday morning, a funeral procession brought locals face to face with asylum-seekers camping in the plaza, where some voiced frustration with the protesters. "The smell is driving away my customers," said Maria Maggiore, who runs a beauty salon adjacent to the plaza. "These people piss right next to my business, and my clients are afraid they'll get fleas."

Giacomo Matina (right), pictured arguing with a local activist, said he's helped asylum-seekers for 30 years and even adopted a Tunisian minor in 2011, but like other island natives, he is getting tired of the issue. "They have no respect," he said. "I tell my wife we should sell the house and leave because I can't live in Lampedusa anymore."

"This is a fight between the poor, the problems you see here are the result of laws imposed by the EU that we have no control over," said Giacomo Sferlazzo, of the Collettivo Askavusa, or "Barefoot Collective" in Lampedusan dialect. "If Italy triples its arms exports in one year, if we make war in Libya, what else can we expect?"

Angela Maraventano, a member of the anti-immigration, ultra-conservative Liga Nord party, blocks traffic to protest the presence of asylum-seekers. She may not have much in common with leftist Sferlazzo, but both are calling for the removal of the hotspot, saying refugees are brought to Lampedusa by rescue boats and don't arrive unexpectedly via rubber dinghies such as in Greece.

"The coast guard brings them to our napkin-sized island when they should be going to the mainland, where there is more space," Maraventano said. "I have a restaurant on the port and I want to see French tourists disembarking with large pearl necklaces, not people who want everything given to them for free. We have nothing to offer them."

Looking over the port, 17-year-old Dihaa Hamami of Tunisia, said he understood frustrations displayed by locals, but also that he felt most recognized the issue was larger than the hotspot in Lampedusa. "I don't want anything, just to live peacefully," Hamami said. "In Tunisia, we can't drink beer, we can't listen to music. We suffer, but we don't want Italians to suffer with us."

Following the funeral on Tuesday, protesters cleaned up the plaza where they had been camping and occupied a different square, easing tensions with locals. As he spread a blanket over cardboard boxes, Yemeni refugee Wael Marsh said, "We don't want to be here, the people don't want us here, so we will protest until they take us off this island."