Divide and Rule in Italy

A new political alliance between the Northern League and Casa Pound - two populist right-wing parties - have fuelled the demonstrations against immigration. Roberto Maroni, the president of the Lombardy region where Milan is located and a member of the Northern League, recently announced that police will evict the inhabitants of 200 illegally occupied apartments each week.

According to data, immigrants make up eight percent of the country's population. Although this is lower than in other European countries such as France (12 percent), Germany (9 percent), and the UK (15 percent), Italy's economic woes and lack of infrastructure cause inflated perceptions among Italians about the number of immigrants. A study found the average Italian believes that foreigners represent 30 percent of the total population, and that 20 percent of those are Muslim - whereas in fact just four percent are.

"The problem is that immigrants are placed to live in a context where poverty is already a reality and basic infrastructures are often missing. And you simply can't do that without negative consequences. The government should know better," Rita Bichi, a professor of sociology at Milan's Universita' Cattolica, told Al Jazeera.

"In the neighbourhood things are now calm, but I don't know how long the situation will stay like this because there are still no jobs, and the neighbourhood seems to have been abandoned to itself once again," said Abel, a 40-year-old Eritrean man who arrived in Italy two years ago.

Interestingly, an anti-immigration protester - had a similar point to make.

"The mayor of Rome came [to the neighbourhood], the city sent people to trim the trees, and they finally repaired the street light: a small gift to keep us at bay. Nothing more, nothing long-term. As usual."