Aid groups dock 2 rescue vessels with 500 migrants in Italy

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Two European aid groups have docked their rescue vessels in Italian ports and some 500 would-be refugees have disembarked, even as the Italian government insists it isn’t backing down on its hard line against migrant smuggling operations from North Africa. The Geo Berents, chartered by French aid group Doctors Without Borders, pulled into the port in Salerno, near Naples, on Sunday. Farther north along the Adriatic, the Humanity 1, operated by the German aid group SOS Humanity, arrived at the port in Bari. The new government of Premier Giorgia Meloni, which campaigned on a tough anti-immigrant stance, has tried to take a tough stance against aid groups that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean.