The captain of a ship that saved migrants in the Mediterranean Sea has refused to accept Paris' highest honor, instead accusing the city's mayor of hypocrisy.
The captain of a ship that saved migrants in the Mediterranean Sea has refused to accept Paris' highest honor, instead accusing the city's mayor of hypocrisy.
In July, Pia Klemp of Germany was awarded the Médaille de la Ville de Paris Grand Vermeil, but she wrote in a Facebook post on Aug. 20 that she would not accept it.
She wrote that Mayor Anna Hidalgo and the city of Paris "want to award me a medal for my solidarian [sic] action in the Mediterranean Sea, because our crews 'work to rescue migrants from difficult conditions on a daily basis'.
"At the same time your police is stealing blankets from people that you force to live on the streets, while you raid protests and criminalize people that are standing up for rights of migrants and asylum seekers," she continued. "I am sure you won't be surprised that I decline the medaille Grand Vermeil."
The Paris City Council's press office told ABC News, "This is a misunderstanding." The Paris City Council said that it welcomes migrants "in the most humane conditions that are possible for us to offer."
The council added, "Council member Dominique Versini, who is in charge of the solidarity department and the fight against exclusion, is trying to contact Pia Klemp very quickly to propose to meet her and discuss the action of the City on the reception of migrants."
Klemp's post included an image of a 2017 article from French newspaper L'Obs with the headline, "After barriers, the Paris city council installs anti-migrant rocks." In February 2017, L'Obs reported that the city had placed dozens of large rocks on the ground under a bridge where hundreds of people slept while waiting to be seen by a nearby humanitarian center.
At the time, the Paris City Council justified the rocks by citing imminent construction work on those sites, but migrant aid associations alleged it was harassment.