TENSIONS FLARE OVER OUTBREAK AMONG MIGRANTS

Italy sent soldiers and riot police to a council estate in the south of the country Friday where a coronavirus outbreak among foreign farm workers had triggered tensions with locals. Violence flared between Italian residents and migrant workers on Thursday and Friday in Mondragone, a town 40 kilometres north of Naples, after five blocks of flats were locked down in an outbreak of 43 cases among Italian and Bulgarian field workers.

The trouble reportedly began after a group of Bulgarians attempted to force their way through a cordon put in place earlier this week, to protest being prevented from returning to work.

Police persuaded them to go back, but a few were later spotted heading out. Resident Italians then shouting insults at the inhabitants, some of whom responded by throwing chairs and objects from their balconies.