MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Reports of between 800-900 EU-bound migrants drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean when a boat capsized on Sunday. Only 28 have been rescued.
According to Amnesty International, the protest organizer, hundreds of people have joined the march. The group stated that participants will carry three empty coffins, with the march culminating outside the European Council building.
Earlier Thursday, European media leaked a draft summary of the summit, revealing that the bloc is unlikely to expand search and rescue operations, focusing instead on destroying boats used by human traffickers to smuggle undocumented migrants into Europe. Amnesty International called the report "illegal, impractical and immoral."
The Mediterranean Sea is one of the main routes for migrants trying to flee armed conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East. At least 3,500 people died crossing the sea in 2014, according to UN estimates.
