The Italian Senate voted Thursday to lift the parliamentary immunity of Matteo Salvini, head of the League (far-right), opening the way for his removal in court in a case of migrants stranded at sea when he was in government.

This vote occurs in the midst of the resurgence of crossings of migrants in the Mediterranean. They are hundreds of land every day on the coasts of the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Sicily, in small boats, or to be rescued at sea by ships the humanitarian and coast guards.