Italian far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Wednesday resisted increasing pressure to allow 177 migrants who have been held on a coast guard ship in a Sicilian port for two days to disembark.
A public backlash against the seaborne newcomers helped put Salvini and his anti-immigration League party into office in June, alongside the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.
The coast guard's ship the Diciotti is docked in the port of Catania, but Salvini has said he will not let the migrants — including 28 minors — come ashore until other European countries agree to take them in. They were rescued from an overcrowded boat a week ago.