Brussels, 12/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - France has firmly condemned the violence which took place last weekend in Rosarno, Italy. On Friday evening, attacks took on a truly racial nature, the day following the immigrant protest which degenerated into clashes with the police. After these clashes, in which 67 were injured, over one thousand immigrants were forced to leave the town. Although Pope Benedict XVI has denounced “racism” in Italy, few European countries other than France have criticised events in Rosarno. “Such violence was inexcusable and should be clamped down upon immediately because that is not the image of Europe that we wish to project”, said Pierre Lellouche, French Secretary of State for European Affairs, speaking on Monday 12 January. On EUROPE 1, he said: “Opposite us, we have an African continent that is doubling the size of its population, not to mention what is happening on the Indian sub-continent, illegal channels of trafficking and immigration that change place as we take measures against them”. He explained that the very strong pressure on Spain had moved via Libya to Italy and to Malta. Mr Lellouche also pointed out that he would raise immigration matters with his colleagues during the informal meeting of European affairs ministers on 13 and 14 January in La Granja, Segovia. “Today, with Libya, Turkey is the main entrance door for illegal immigration” by land or sea, Mr Lellouche explained, adding: “Tomorrow, with my European affairs colleagues, I shall call for an integrated policy to be set rapidly in place on immigration”. “Together, we must be able (…) to have the same policy for the right of asylum, so that trafficking networks cannot shop around between the different rights of asylum in different countries”, he said. Returning to the subject of the violent clashes, the chairman of the migrations committee at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), Corien Jonker, pointed out that the EU and Italy should draw a lesson from the “gunpowder of racist violence, xenophobia and exploitation” that has exploded between immigrants and those living in these countries. “The states cannot put their heads in the sand and say immigrants do not exist, that they should not be here. These people are here, and for as long as they are here in Europe, we all have a responsibility towards them”, she said. Ms Jonker above all invited the Italian authorities to adopt a human approach towards migrants, who should not have to undergo the consequences of this explosion. (B.C./transl.jl)