RIGHTS campaigners have hit out at Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s extreme new plans to use military ships to prevent migrants from reaching the country’s shores.

Italy’s Associated National Press Agency (Ansa) reported yesterday that, according to sources inside the Interior Ministry, the far-right minister escalated his war on refugees at a public order & security committee meeting this week.

Ansa reported his plans included using naval vessels and those of the financial police to “defend” Italian ports; sending Italian patrol boats to work with the EU-funded Libyan coastguard; working with Tunisia to reduce the number of migrant departures from its coasts and increasing fines against non-governmental organisations that — in Salvini’s terms — assist with human trafficking.