Brussels, 16/09/2005 (Agence Europe) -Members of the delegation made up of fourteen members of the European Parliament, who visited the holding centre for refugees in Lampedusa, Sicily, on 14 and 15 September, said they were astonished to have found only 11 people in this camp, which was home to 600 refugees not long ago, despite its maximum capacity of 200. In a press release, French Socialist Martine Roure stated: "you can imagine the surprise of the MEPs (...) to note that they outnumbered the asylum seekers, as only 11 people were present, the others having been airlifted out three days earlier". Ms Roure denounced this "dramatic masquerade, which had been organised by the Italian authorities, who had shipped the refugees goodness knows where". The Italian Claudio Fava, a member of the same group, used the word "farce", and talked of a camp which had been "emptied, cleaned and polished like a ballroom". He added that the visit by the MEPs had at least served to prove that Lampedusa and other similar centres "should be closed immediately".