ITALY: Barricades on major highways in southern Italy were on fire as immigrants clashed with police over asylum delays

Record ID: 348278

  • Title: ITALY: Barricades on major highways in southern Italy were on fire as immigrants clashed with police over asylum delays
  • Date: 2nd August 2011
  • Summary: BARI, ITALY (AUGUST 01, 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) TOP VIEW OF IMMIGRANTS BLOCKING HIGHWAY AND TRUCKS AT STANDSTILL PROTESTING IMMIGRANTS BLOCKING HIGHWAY WITH TRASH CANS RIOT POLICE MARCHING ON HIGHWAY BARRICADE BURNING IN THE MIDDLE OF HIGHWAY IMMIGRANTS RUNNING AWAY IN FIELD IMMIGRANT RUNNING PAST TEAR GAS SMOKE RIOT POLICE CONFRONTING STONE-THROWING IMMIGR
  • Embargoed: 17th August 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Crime,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAAQ3T8NTQGWL0BJXUE5Y6JGQ48
  • Story Text: At least 30 people, including 20 policemen, were injured in the southern Italian city of Bari on Monday (August 1) in violent clashes between immigrants seeking asylum and police, witnesses said.
    About 100 immigrants, angry at delays in being granted asylum, took over parts of the highway where they set fire to trash cans and tyres early in the morning.
    They threw stones at police who descended on the tarmac to clear them off the highway and pursued them through nearby fields.
    Authorities say they were mostly African nationals who had illegally travelled to Italy via Libya.
    Some immigrants blocked a railway track and others blocked traffic. A local transport service bus was damaged in the protest.
    Immigration, especially from Africa and Eastern Europe, is a sensitive issue in Italy and protests by immigrants kept in holding centres across the country occur sporadically.
    Long-simmering tensions have risen to the fore in recent years after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government cracked down on illegal immigration and tightened procedures for obtaining legal residence in the country.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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