ROME – Police on the Italian-French border have forcibly removed some 100 migrants stranded in Ventimiglia after they were refused entry into France four days ago.  The Italian police have put these migrants aboard Red Cross buses going to the town's railyway station, as tensions between the two countries escalate.

  These actions come after around 200 migrants had lined the coastline at Ventimiglia, a Ligurian border-town, as French authorities at Mentone denied their entry last Friday. The migrants shouted “we won’t go back” and “away with the police”, having spent days in disillusionment, stranded on the Italian shoreline. The migrants have threatened a hunger strike, some already refusing food provided by the Red Cross, in their desperation to enter into France.  

  Interior Minister Angelino Alfano described the scenes at Ventimiglia as as a “punch in Europe’s face”, adding that “those people want to go to (other parts of) Europe, not Italy”.

  The crisis goes beyond Italian borders as both the Schengen and Dublin treaties have been called to attention. The Schengen treaty concerns the free movement of EU citizens within Europe and as such a lifting of internal borders. This previously has meant that those landing in Italy could usually travel to bordering countries. However, with Germany closing their borders last week in the name of G7 security, both Austria and France have followed suit, thus causing chaos at Ventimiglia.

  The Dublin convention, however, states that refugees must apply for asylum in their first country of entry into Europe, a ruling that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi renders unjust. The Prime Minister said that the convention “should be changed”, adding that the current situation in Libya (from where many migrants depart) is “Europe’s responsibility” after the intervention by NATO four years ago.  

  With little done to help Italy with their migrant problem, Renzi is threatening his use his unspecified Plan B to “hurt” Europe. There has been speculation that Italy might grant temporary residence permits to illegal migrants, to then allow them to travel between the EU nations, due to the aforementioned Schengen treaty.

  He presses that the crisis “should not be underestimated” and that the EU’s migrant distribution plans, whereby 24,000 refugees would be taken by other countries, are simply not stretching far enough. “Europe’s answers so far have not been good enough”, Renzi declared.  

  The crisis in Ventimiglia is the crux of a nation-wide problem. Milan’s Central Station has been inundated with migrants, with charities continually providing clothes, food and drink to the migrants. The station has become the temporary end-point on their journey, following the closing of French, German and Austrian borders. Rome has also opened a shelter near Tiburtina station, Rome council member Francesca Danese reassuring that “the situation is under control”.