Diversity at its finest
10 January 2010
Violence broke out in southern Italy yesterday as hundreds of migrant workers, most of them Africans, went on a rampage in retaliation to two of their number being shot and three more beaten with iron bars by white youths.(White youths? Normally when Mail Online reports on young rioting Muslims they are merely regarded as non-descriptive “youths.” — Ed.)
Authorities reporting at least 37 were wounded in the ensuing clashes, including 18 police officers and five migrants, as the violence reached its second day in the coastal town of Rosarno in Calabria.
The riots in the region were sparked off when when two migrants were wounded by pellet fire two days ago, starting the cycle of violence, said a top police official, Renato Cortese, in the regional capital.
The simmering racial tension was then exacerbated when two more migrants were shot in the same location, an unoccupied factory which serves as sleeping quarters for African workers in the hamlet of Laureana di Borrello 6 miles from Rosarno.
In retaliation, the immigrant farm labourers went on a rampage and fought pitched battles with the police.
Police reinforcements were being sent in the next hours, likely during the night, with the exact number still being decided, the Interior Ministry said.