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The Documentary: The Abandoned

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The Abandoned

25/04/2015 GMT

BBC World Service - The Documentary, The Abandoned, The Abandoned

The Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants who crossed the Sahara and Mediterranean to Sicily

The Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants who crossed the Sahara and Mediterranean to Sicily to seek political asylum.

Will Coley listens to the stories of Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants who have made the often lethal journey across the Sahara, and then the Mediterranean, to arrive in Sicily asking for political asylum. Once the news cameras have left them on the beaches, Italian squatters are helping them to occupy the opulent empty homes of a Sicily in decline.  Around 20% of Sicilians are unemployed and there is no help for homeless people, so activists called Prendocasa or ‘take the house’ are taking over empty buildings. This ancient crossroads for migration over many centuries is once again being adapted.
 
Photo credit: Loris Guzzetta

BBC World Service

Will Coley meets Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants who crossed the Sahara and Mediterranean to Sicily to seek political asylum.

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