Italian ship with 151 rescued migrants docks in Sicily

The Italian offshore supply vessel Asso Trenta has brought 151 migrants to Sicily after rescuing them in waters off Libya on Sunday.

It's unknown at this time, whether the migrants will be able to stay in Italy or if they will be distributed among other EU Member States.

Earlier the NGO rescue vessel Alan Kurdi operated by Sea-Eye disembarked 88 migrants at Taranto on the Italian mainland. Under an EU-brokered deal, 67 of them will go to four other countries, while the others will stay in Italy. 

A Taranto official, Gabriella Ficocelli, told the Italian news agency ANSA that the migrants included five unaccompanied minors who were “tired and tried by the voyage.”

The migrants disembarked eight days after being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea from Libyan-based traffickers' unseaworthy vessels.

Simultaneously in Greece, a decision reached by its government to transfer migrants from an overcrowded eastern Aegean island to the mainland was met with resistance. 

In two separate instances, residents unsuccessfully tried to prevent migrants from being housed in hotels in the north.

On Sunday an anti-migration march was also held in the northern city of Thessaloniki, that was attended by some 100 people, while a counter-demonstration drew in a minorly larger crowd.