Defend Europe, an online campaign to stop migrant rescue charities in the Mediterranean on Wednesday said that it had been blocked by PayPal after collecting more than $82,500 from donours.
“The money has been returned, but people will be asked to donate again via another crowd funding platform.
“PayPal has been pressured into doing this by left-wing collectives and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) which gave them fake news about us.
“It is not true that we want to stop rescues at sea, we want to stop NGO rescue boats when they leave port,” Lorenzo Fiato, President of the Italian chapter of Identitarian Generation said.
Such obstruction tactics were first deployed in May outside the Sicilian port of Catania against a rescue ship run by the Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranee NGOs.
The Italian coast guard had to intervene.
Fiato, 23, said that Defend Europe would soon stage more actions, in cooperation with the Libyan coast guard.
Amid questions about the lawfulness of their conduct, he said the group was prepared to face legal consequences.
NGOs have been accused by an Italian prosecutor and right-wing politicians of arranging migrant pick-ups with human traffickers.
The accusations, rejected by the NGOs, have never been proven. Fiato said his group was “patriotic,” rather than right-wing.
“We want to call into question mass migration and multiculturalism, we don’t care about anything else, and people of all political orientations are welcome to join us,” he said.
