2,500 police officers have been deployed in Italy to provide security for the G7 summit. Unlike the participants, they were not housed in exclusive hotels, but initially on a dilapidated cruise ship.
The participants of the G7 summit, which begins on Thursday in the southern Italian town of Apulia, are staying in a five-star beach hotel in Borgo Egnazia – something that the 2,500 police officers deployed to the region to secure the summit could only dream of: They were quartered on a neglected cruise ship on which, according to the police union COISP, “terrible sanitary conditions” prevailed. The ship has since been confiscated.
The ship was confiscated “after numerous complaints” and the police officers were accommodated in hotels, the union said on Wednesday. The “Mykonos Magic”, anchored in the port of Brindisi, had unusable toilets, dilapidated showers and flooded cabins.
Police officers from all over Italy were deployed for the G7 summit
The newspaper “La Republica” reported that the air conditioning was broken, water was dripping from the ceiling in the cabins and the officers had to wait for hours for a cold meal. Due to the heat and the broken air conditioning, they also had to sleep with the cabin doors open.
According to the police union SILF, the 2,500 police officers lived “crammed in like mice” on the ship. Security forces from across Italy were sent to Apulia for the three-day summit, which is also expected to be attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden.
The “Mykonos Magic” was formerly operated by Costa Cruises and now belongs to the Greek ferry company Seajets.
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Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
