PALERMO, ITALY - 17 JANUARY 2019: Ouattara Ibrahima Kobena<br />
(34, from Ivory Coast),  President of the Council of Cultures of the City of Palermo, poses for a portrait in front of the registry office for foreigners of the municipality of Palermo, Italy, on January 17th 2019. The Council of Cultures sees its role as ultimately guaranteeing that new residents to the city are able to take their place in the political and institutional life of the city as full citizens regardless of their nationality or immigration status.<br />
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Mayor of Palermo Leoluca Orlando, together with the mayors of Naples, Florence and Parma, are rebelling against Interior Minister Matteo Salvini by refusing to implement the new controversial security law which reduces the rights of asylum seekers.<br />
The "Salvini decree", passed in November 2018 by the far-right government, removes humanitarian protection status – one of the three forms of asylum offered by Italy – which means thousands of people would no longer be entitled to state shelter.<br />
“It is not an act of civil disobedience or conscientious objection, but the simple application of the constitutional rights that are guaranteed to all those who live in our country”, Leoluca Orlando said.