Italians blocked in GB, anger on social networks: “They abandoned us”

Published on: 12/22/2020 12:57 PM

The anger of Italians who were trapped in British airports erupts on social media after air connections with the United Kingdom were suspended on Sunday after the identification of the new British variant of Covid. A measure that is defined as “unconstitutional” on the Facebook page ‘Collective action of Italians blocked in GB’ which, created a few hours ago, has almost 500 members, with stories and videos of Italians trapped in London airports.

“At the airport there were Italians in all kinds of situations: those who were in the UK for work or study, those who were returning to Italy to stay, those who lived in the UK but had to go home to help the elderly and the sick. There were faces shattered by fear, by tears, by despair of being trapped in a place where they had no reference points, a house to go to during the holidays, “writes Gabriele Bartoli, who opened the page, complaining as a measure “proclaimed as an action to protect Italians” has effectively abandoned “thousands of citizens in a country that is not their own.”

“I have never felt so abandoned and disappointed in my country. Seeing fellow Italians reduced to sleeping in the airport and thinking that now they are still there waiting for news and help that does not arrive. It’s a shame!”, Another fra’s comment. the group’s dozens of users, some of whom are now “nowhere to go,” but also “out of work now,” suspended in airport limbo.

Meloni: “What is Farnesina’s plan?”

At this time another Facebook page was also born – “The Italian government has left us in the cold in the United Kingdom” – and in both there are offers from Italians living in Great Britain to blocked compatriots who may not have a home to return to London.

“Hello, given the situation, if someone needs it I can also offer 3 beds, preferably a family. I just finished my quarantine, and I live about 30 minutes from Heathrow,” writes a user. And also those who instead propose to do a “mechanized” to try to return to Italy via France once the connections in the Canal have been resumed.

“It’s a shame what is happening here in Britain. We have been abandoned by the British and Italian governments,” another user writes. “I was finally able to speak by phone with the Consulate Task Force – read another post this morning – They don’t know anything either, they are waiting for news and they are pressuring Farnesina and the government to get it. They are mortified by the situation and they said who expect to know something today .. “.

There is no shortage of those who expressed their disagreement with the protests: recalling that on December 19 Boris Johnson announced that as of the 20th it would be forbidden to travel from London / Southeast abroad, Giulia writes that “Italians who went to the airport to return to Italy for reasons unrelated to work / health / absolute reasons did not follow English regulations “.