Italy's Salvini on migrant closures: We're no longer Europe's doormat

Italy's decision to turn away charity vessels carrying rescued sea migrants shows that the country is "no longer Europe's doormat," interior minister and deputy premier Matteo Salvini says.  

Commenting on the Aquarius' arrival in Valencia, Spain, after it was refused docking in Italy, Salvini writes on Facebook: "It is a sign that something is changing, we are no longer the doormat of Europe."

At a local election rally in Seregno, a town near Milan, Salvini also says Italy "is a country that is no longer occupied, no longer slave" to Europe, and urged Spain and other EU partners to continue taking in sea migrants.

Ilaria Cerqua, the Seregno mayoral candidate whom Salvini is supporting, says in a speech afterwards that voting for her means "no asylum seekers, no Roma camps, no mosques."    (dpa)