Catalan parties call for 'immediate' release of migrant rescue ship

A number of Catalan political parties have called on the Spanish authorities to "immediately release" the Open Arms vessel of the Proactiva Open Arms NGO, which has not been allowed to leave Barcelona's port for over a week.

MPs from the JxCat, ERC, CatECP and CUP parties, along with speaker Roger Torrent, unfurled banners in Parliament on Tuesday in support of the NGO, pointing out that the activity of search and rescue carried out by the NGO "is not a crime."

ERC member, Ruben Wagensberg, regretted that in the time the Open Arms vessel has not been allowed to set sail, more than 170 people have died at sea. "The time the vessel spends in Barcelona's port is not counted in days but in deaths," he said.