For a second consecutive day riots led by hundreds of African immigrants broke out in the southern Italian town of Rosarno on Friday.
There have allegedly been several clashes between locals and immigrants. So far 13 people have been arrested and 36 were injured. Windows
were smashed, rubbish overturned and cars damaged. Shops and schools remained closed, while many residents stayed home.
The protests were triggered after an immigrant farm worker was hit and wounded by air rifles on Thursday night.
Immigrants in the streets accused local residents of attacking them, shouting "we are not animals" and waving banners saying "Italians here are racist." Some locals marched against them, but they clashed with the police and were held back.
A group of immigrants requested to see a government representative. The crowd eventually dispersed after a delegation had talks with the town's commissioner Francesco Bagnato.
Bagnato promised the immigrants that the police would protect them but "they must not confuse attacks by individuals with the attitude of the citizenry as a whole."
He stressed that the town had done "everything possible to improve the immigrants' living conditions over the last few months by supplying chemical toilets and water containers."
The situation is serious. The real problem lies in the growing tensions between immigrant workers and the town population, worsened by the general poor conditions of Italy's south where there are high unemployment and Mafia infiltrations.
Rosarno's former Civil Defense Councilor Domenico Ventre said " what is happening is intolerable and the citizens won't stand for it any more. We cannot tolerate these people devastating our town. "
He added that the immigrant protests over the "isolated" shooting incident had been "absolutely disproportionate."
According to Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, such incidents proved that Italy's immigration policy had been too lenient for too long.
"In all these years illegal immigration has been tolerated without doing anything effective. On one hand it has fed criminality, on the other
it has led to situations of extreme squalor such as that at Rosarno."
The minister vowed to bring the town under control and a special government task force has been set-up.
About 1,500 immigrant day workers keep farms running in the area by picking fruit and vegetables. They say they are essential for the economy and angry at living in abandoned factories without running water or electricity. Human rights groups claim they are exploited by organized crime.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right government has moved strongly to stem illegal immigration from North Africa and especially Libya. Under a recent treaty with Tripoli, sea refugees are turned back in open
seas before they reach Italian waters.