Italy migrant revolt sparks blaze

Immigrants being held at a detention centre on the Italian island of Lampedusa have set fire to the facility after trying to escape, police say.

Unconfirmed reports said some 14 people were treated for smoke inhalation.

The revolt was reportedly sparked by news that 107 Tunisians were to be deported by the Italian authorities.

Last month, hundreds broke out of the centre in protest at a new policy that required them to be held until their asylum applications were processed.

The protesters also complained about overcrowding at the centre, which was built for 850 but was holding 1,800 at the time, forcing hundreds to sleep outdoors.

'Revolt'

Lampedusa's police chief Girolamo Di Fazio said the numbers at the site had since been brought back down to around 860 people, but these had staged a "revolt".

"Some of them sought to escape by breaking through a gate, but they were pushed back by security forces," he told Italian television.

"A fire broke out in one of the buildings housing the illegal immigrants, largely destroying it."

The blaze was swiftly brought under control and order restored, he added.

A spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told the AFP news agency that a preliminary report found some 40 immigrants had been injured in the incident.

The Ansa news agency meanwhile said 14 people were being treated for breathing problems and that 27 security officers were injured.

Lampedusa has become a favoured first destination for African immigrants hoping to gain access to Italy and the EU.

The Italian interior ministry says about 31,700 immigrants landed on Lampedusa last year - an increase of 75% from 2007.

In the past, those migrants seeking asylum would have been sent to the Italian mainland.

But the role of the centre was changed last month, as the Italian government began a system to speed up the repatriation of the illegal arrivals. It has been renamed the Centre for Identification and Expulsion.

"This is the fault of the government... the immigrants are exasperated," Lampedusa's mayor, Dino De Rubeis, told Ansa.

"These new measures have shattered the calm which existed at the holding centre," said spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency.

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