Refugees scuffle with police in Milan, denounce conditions

Hundreds of refugees scuffled with police and briefly blocked a major road in Italy's financial capital on Monday in a protest against their living conditions and long wait for work permits.

Chanting "documents, documents," around 300 refugees held up traffic on a main route into Milan, with riot police called in to push the men back into their nearby temporary camp, where they are awaiting registration and identity papers.

The refugees came primarily from Africa. "This home is not good, this home is not good," one of the protesters shouted.

More than 100,000 refugees and migrants have reached Italy so far this year by sea, according to an Interior Ministry tally. While many of the newcomers look to move swiftly to wealthier northern Europe, at least 85,000 are housed in Italian shelters, often hoping for temporary documents that will let them secure jobs.

As in other European countries, the huge influx has created political tensions, with some opposition parties demanding a much more robust approach to tackling the refugees.

"What the hell! They are guests here who we are paying for and they are busting our balls," Matteo Salvini, the leader of the rightist Northern League party wrote on his Facebook page after the Milan protest.

"I would put them on the first plane and send them all home," he added.

Salvini's anti-immigration rhetoric has helped turn the League — a party traditionally rooted in the north — into Italy's third-most popular political party.

Reuters