Bloody clashes in southern Italy highlight tensions over growing immigrant population - by Francis D'Milio

Bloody clashes between African migrants and residents in one of Italy's poorest regions over the last few days brought home a national dilemma Saturday: Many Italians don't want to pick crops in the south or toil in the north's factories, but resent the desperate foreigners who will work for a pittance.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi last year dismissed any notion of a "multiethnic Italy." His conservative coalition, which includes the anti-immigrant Northern League party, has repeatedly cracked down on illegal immigration, sometimes drawing the ire of human rights advocates, U.N. officials and the Vatican.

With opinion surveys showing that many Italians blame immigrants for crime, tensions persist between citizens and foreigners - and sometimes erupt into violence, as they did these past days in Rosarno, a town in Calabria, an underdeveloped southern agricultural region with chronic unemployment.

For the complete report: The Canadian Press: Bloody clashes in southern Italy highlight tensions over growing immigrant population