Italy's president warned today of a «worrisome» increase in intolerance toward immigrants in Italy, a day after the government turned back a boat carrying 200 migrants without screening them for asylum onshore, according to AP. President Giorgio Napolitano said in a message marking the 157th anniversary of the Italian state police that international cooperation should be a priority in fighting illegal immigration. The president, whose role is largely symbolic, said increases in migrant smuggling «risked creating a diffuse perception of insecurity and worrisome instances of intolerance» among Italians. On Thursday, the government defied the U.N. refugee agency and returned more than 200 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean back to Libya, refusing to let them apply for asylum in Italy. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni called the operation a «turning point» in Italy's crackdown on illegal immigration, and said it should be a model for other European countries. The UNHCR, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch criticized the move, and said Italy had breached international law by refusing to allow the migrants to apply for asylum. Also expressing concern was the Vatican. The Holy See's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano described as «worrisome» the possibility that some of the migrants could have made requests for political asylum.
