Racial Clashes

The Pope has denounced the violent clashes between Italians and illegal immigrants which has left dozens injured in the southern town of Rosarno in the last few days. “Residents are reported to have beaten immigrants with iron bars, shot at them and run over them. Nine were injured, two seriously, in two nights of racially charged violence. The Pope denounced the clashes during his weekly blessing at the Vatican as Italian authorities evacuated more than 1,100 immigrants from Rosarno, in southern Calabria, after attacks on African farm workers provoked clashes with residents. ‘The immigrant is a human being, different in culture and tradition but one who should be respected all the same,’ the Pope said. ‘And violence should never be used as a way to resolve difficulties.’ Hundreds of immigrants, most of them Africans employed illegally as labourers for less than £25 a day, took to the streets after two of them were shot at with air rifles by unidentified gunmen on Thursday.”