Italy's firebrand interior minister threatened today to return to Libya 177 migrants who have been aboard an Italian coast guard ship for days following another standoff with Malta.
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini demanded that other European countries take in the migrants after his Maltese counterpart, Michael Farrugia, insisted that the "only solution" is for the Diciotti ship to dock at the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The Diciotti, working under the EU's Frontex Mediterranean rescue operation, has been off Lampedusa after rescuing the migrants August 16. I
In a tweet today, Farrugia accused Italy of rescuing the migrants in Maltese waters "purely to prevent them from entering Italian waters."