STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
A town in southern Italy, Rosarno, has just seen some of the country's worst riots in decades. For three days, residents of the town clashed with African farm workers. This fighting was seen as part of the country's racial tensions, and also showed how organized crime holds a grip on the region. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Rome.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI: The riots began Thursday after a gang of white youth attacked African farm workers. In angry reaction, hundreds of migrants began smashing cars and shops, and clashed with riot police and residents. Some locals fired on fleeing farm workers. Seventy people were left injured, including three migrants beaten with metal rods. Some farm workers vented their frustration with TV reporters, but were too frightened to give their names.
U: (Foreign language spoken)
POGGIOLI: One man said, there's too much blood here. I want to go back home to Africa. It's too dangerous here. Another man spoke of how the people of Rosarno treat the migrants.
U: (Foreign language spoken)
POGGIOLI: We Africans are not chickens, he said. They treat us like animals. We're here to work. They're always ganging up on us. Italians are racists, racists.
U: (Foreign language spoken)
POGGIOLI: Some 20,000 migrants in the Southern Calabria region work as seasonal fruit and vegetable pickers. Only about 6,000 have regular work permits. Most live in squalid conditions, in abandoned factories with no running water or electricity. Despite economic hardships, Italians are not willing to do this kind of farm labor. Nevertheless, there's growing resentment toward foreign workers. This is what one angry Rosarno resident thinks about African migrants.
U: (Through Translator) Of course I employed them, but I paid them and provided them with food. But I couldn't possibly provide housing for them. I'm not a racist, but these are people who are unable to live in a proper house.
POGGIOLI: Four days after the riots started, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had still not made any public comment. But Interior Minister Roberto Maroni's reaction to the riots sparked controversy.
M: (Through Translator) In all these years, there has been too much tolerance for illegal immigration, which has lead to an increase in crime and has produced degraded situations like Rosarno.
POGGIOLI: Writer Roberto Saviano, author of the best seller "Gomorra," which revealed the inner-workings of the Neapolitan Mafia, says the Ndrangheta bosses couldn't stand any form of rebellion and had to show who's in charge.
M: (Through Translator) Migrants are the only ones who have rebelled against organized crime. Of course, their methods are to be criticized, but we must look beyond that. These people are sick and tired of being ruled by criminals. They're very courageous because in that part of the world, saying no is really dangerous.
POGGIOLI: Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.
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