>>6886710

German captain Carola Rackete was arrested as the boat docked with 40 migrants remaining on board, spokesman Ruben Neugebauer told Agence France-Presse. Television footage showed a heavy security presence at the port and police escorting 31-year-old Rackete off the vessel.

Italy had refused the German rescue ship port entry since it picked up 53 migrants who were floating on an inflatable raft off the Libyan coast on June 12.

After waiting at sea for an invitation from Italy or an EU state to accept the ship, Rackete decided to head to Lampedusa, where she was blocked by Italian government vessels.

“Even though in the afternoon the prosecution has opened an investigation against me, at the same time they notified us that they will not help to bring the rescued off the ship,” Rackete said in a video statement on Twitter. “I have decided to enter the harbor, which is free at night, on my own.”

>>6886814

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48818696

>>6886870

>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48818696

The German captain of a ship rescuing migrants said she disobeyed orders not to dock in Italy because she feared those on board would kill themselves.

Sea-Watch-3 captain Carola Rackete apologised to the crew of a patrol boat her vessel trapped against a quayside.

She denied Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's accusation that she had tried to ram the boat in an "act of war".

Italy's government has taken a tough stance to try to stop migrants landing in the country.

After a two week stand-off with Italian authorities, Ms Rackete, 31, was arrested on Saturday for refusing to obey a military vessel as she navigated her ship into Italian waters near Lampedusa Island.

She said her decision to enter Italian waters was "not an act of violence" and that her aim was simply to get "exhausted and desperate" people on to dry land.

Mr Salvini called Ms Rackete a "pirate" and an "outlaw". She is now under house arrest awaiting trial. She could face 10 years in jail if convicted.

Her ship was carrying 53 migrants rescued off Libya this month, in an operation organised by the German NGO Sea-Watch.