Thousands leave North Africa for Europe

The uprisings across North Africa have led to a surge in migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

Many of the people fleeing the country are people from sub-Saharan Africa and have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa from the Libyan capital Tripoli, the BBC reports.

These people are following the almost 50,000 Tunisians who arrived in the early days of that country's uprising, and enter a continent wary of the potential backlash from voters.