LAMPEDUSA, June 29 -- A German charity rescue ship with 40 migrants on board has defied authorities and docked in the port of the Italian island of Lampedusa after being at sea for more than two weeks. Italian news agency ANSA reported that an Italian customs police boat attempted to prevent the Sea-Watch 3 charity ship from docking on multiple occasions, but had to get out of the way in order to not be trapped against a wharf. Sea-Watch spokesman Ruben Neugebauer told the AFP news agency the ship's German captain Carola Rackete, 31, was arrested. The 40 migrants disembarked soon after the vessel docked early on Saturday, one kissing the ground, others hugging ship crew members before boarding a bus. Rackete was cuffed by police for refusing to obey a military vessel, after manoeuvring the ship into port without permission, a crime punishable by between three and 10 years in jail. While five European countries on Friday agreed to take in the migrants, permission for the Dutch-flagged Sea-Watch 3 to enter port and disembark the migrants did not come. Proud of our captain Rackete called the situation "incredibly tense" on Friday saying the migrants were finding the uncertainty "difficult ... psychologically". Matteo Salvini, Italy's interior minister and head of the right-wing League party, had previously said he would only allow Rackete to dock when other European Union states agree to immediately take the migrants. Even then, Italian authorities would seize the ship and prosecute its captain for assisting people-smugglers, he said. Premier Giuseppe Conte told reporters at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on Friday three or four European countries were willing to take part in the redistribution of the migrants. In the meantime, prosecutors in Sicily launched a probe into Rackete on suspicion of aiding "illegal immigration". "Even though in the afternoon the prosecution has opened an investigation against me, at the same time they notified us that they will not help to bring the rescued off the ship," Rackete said in a video statement on Twitter. "I have decided to enter the harbour, which is free at night, on my own," she added.
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