Rome migrant shelter protests eviction plans

Rome (dpa) - Volunteers running a shelter for migrants and asylum seekers in Rome were protesting Friday against eviction plans, expressing mistrust in pledges by local authorities to find alternative accommodation.Hosted in an abandoned glassworks near Tiburtina train station, the Baobab Centre has been active since 2004 and claims to have helped 30,000 migrants over the past 12 months, mostly people transiting through Italy en route to northern Europe.The municipality of Rome has stopped paying the rent and is seeking to return the property to owners, but has promised not to resort to police to clear the premises and pledged to find other shelters for migrants.Prefect Francesco Paolo Tronca, a caretaker mayor, said in a Thursday statement he would strive to strike a balance between "legality and solidarity," and work to "offer to each [Baobab] guest the chance of a decent accommodation."But Andrea Costa, a coordinator for Baobab volunteers, is not convinced. "We are not leaving this place until the municipalities gives us guarantees" that no-one will be left out high and dry, he told dpa.Costa, who is sleeping inside the premises, said migrants had started to be relocated, but about 70, including Eritreans and Afghans, were still inside the centre "and the problem is they cannot find another place for all of them."An online petition was launched asking local authorities and the national government to find a solution. It received backing from left-wing politicians, journalists and artists, including the president of the Senate‘s human rights committee, Luigi Manconi.The situation at Baobab came under national scrutiny already last week, when police raided it and took in for questioning 23 migrants with no legal papers, as part of security checks in preparation for the Jubilee of Mercy, a Catholic festival.Italy is one of the countries most exposed to the influx of Europe-bound migrants, although most do not stay and seek to travel on to wealthier nations like Germany. On Thursday, almost 2,000 people were rescued off its shores.