VENTIMIGLIA — An order has been signed to expel 48 migrants coming from Sudan who reached the Franco-Italian border in the hope of making a crossing into France to find their relatives.

 The charter flight, operated by the airline Egyptair and with Khartoum as its destination, was originally due to take off from Milan’s Malpensa airport, where activists gathered to voice their solidarity with the migrants, but instead left from Turin at around 1.P.M.

 This is the first case of such a rejection taking place: “Of all those on the plane, we were well acquainted with two,” activists who travelled from Ventimiglia to Milan told the ‘Il Fatto Quotidiano’ newspaper, before going into detail about their relationship with the migrants.

 “Up until yesterday they were at a Red Cross centre, they felt safe and were preparing to seek asylum.”

 Although there is no official confirmation of events, the group of 48 was escorted from Ventimiglia to a nearby Police Headquarters, where the Justice of the peace signed for their removal from the country.

  Human rights lawyer and immigration expert Alessandra Ballerini, who works for the Caritas Ventimiglia firm, was one of the many to voice their contempt for the decision: “Essentially, we’re talking of a mass deportation towards a country that has serious disregard for their rights, where their very lives are in danger.”

 Ballerini continued: “By signing for their expulsion, our country is making itself complicit in any violations of human rights these regimes will carry out.”

 lej