March 31, 2018//-Armed French customs officers have provoked widespread anger by entering a migrant clinic at a railway station over the border in Italy.
Five officers forced one individual to undergo a urine test at the premises west of the city of Turin on Friday evening, Italian reports say.
The facility is located about 1km (0.6 miles) inside the Italian border.
Political figures in Italy, which has received over 600,000 migrants in the last four years, condemned the move.
The French ambassador, Christian Masset, was called into the Italian foreign ministry in Rome on Saturday to explain what had happened.
“French border agents entered – armed – the clinic run in Bardonecchia, forcing a migrant to a urine test and intimidating our doctor and the mediators and lawyers,” the medical organisation which operates a clinic at the premises, Rainbow for Africa, said.
Armed French customs officers have provoked widespread anger by entering a migrant clinic at a railway station over the border in Italy.
Five officers forced one individual to undergo a urine test at the premises west of the city of Turin on Friday evening, Italian reports say.
The facility is located about 1km (0.6 miles) inside the Italian border.
Political figures in Italy, which has received over 600,000 migrants in the last four years, condemned the move.
The French ambassador, Christian Masset, was called into the Italian foreign ministry in Rome on Saturday to explain what had happened.
“French border agents entered – armed – the clinic run in Bardonecchia, forcing a migrant to a urine test and intimidating our doctor and the mediators and lawyers,” the medical organisation which operates a clinic at the premises, Rainbow for Africa, said.
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.
BBC
