Hundreds of undocumented Egyptian migrants staged demonstrations in the northern Italian city of Brescia on Monday to demand that the Italian government grant them legal residence in the country.
According to Nagi Hassan, member of the United Nations Association of Egypt, most undocumented Egyptian migrants in Italy have lived in the country for between three and eight years.
The Italian government recently issued a new law granting residence to undocumented migrants, Hassan explained, adding that thousands of Egyptian migrants had so far applied for the amnesty. Many, he noted, had paid up to 500 euros in application fees.
Nevertheless, said Hassan, the Italian government had so far refused to grant them residence.
“In fact, Italy recently deported nine Egyptian migrants even though they had paid the application fee,” he said.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.