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Police quell immigrant riots in Italy
Police reinforcements were urgently sent to southern Italy after African migrant workers armed with rocks and metal poles fought pitch battles with locals in a protest over appalling living conditions and alleged racism.
Nearly 70 people, including 30 immigrants, 19 policemen and 17 Italians were injured in the clashes, which started on Thursday after two Africans–from Togo and Nigeria–were shot at with air rifles by locals.
The shooting set off two nights of rioting in the town of Rosarno in the southern Calabria region, with immigrants saying they were sick of being treated like "animals", living in squalid conditions and being paid rock bottom wages for picking fruit and vegetables.
On Thursday, hundreds of immigrants, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, staged an angry demonstration against the shooting, setting fire to cars and rubbish bins, smashing shop windows and throwing rocks at police.