FLORENCE, Italy, (Reuters) – Violent clashes broke out this week between police and the local Chinese community in Prato near Florence in central Italy, home to one of the largest concentrations of Chinese-run industry in Europe.
Tensions had been rising in the town, Italy’s textile capital, where people began emigrating from China in the mid-1990s. Some 50,000 Chinese work in the area, making clothes and handbags with the prized “Made in Italy” label.
Many of these firms thrive on the labour of illegal immigrants, ignoring safety rules and evading taxes. The area is also the focus of an investigation into allegations of money smuggling worth 4.5 billion euros to China from Italy between 2006 and 2010.
Trouble started on Wednesday when state health officials, who stepped up checks after seven people died in a fire at a garment workshop in 2013, went to inspect a factory.
The owner reacted angrily when an inspector raised minor violations of health and safety rules, shoving the inspector and the police who were accompanying him, according to a police source.
Chinese workers then barricaded themselves inside the factory, and hundreds more gathered outside, throwing stones and bottles at the police carrying truncheons and shields who went in to disperse the crowd. Two Chinese citizens and a policeman were injured.
Regional president Enrico Rossi said yesterday that he had discussed the incident with Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni.
Rossi vowed to tackle crime in the area, where he said half of all economic activity is illegal, 1 billion euros ($1.11 billion) in taxes go unpaid every year, and money is laundered through international transfers.
