Thousands of immigrants prot-ested against racism in a southern Italian town yesterday, after a night of rioting sparked by an attack on African farm workers by a gang of white youths.

In one of Italy's worst episodes of racial unrest in years, dozens of Africans in Rosarno, in the Calabria region, smashed car windows with steel bars and stones and set cars and rubbish bins on fire late into Thursday night.

Police said at least one car was attacked while passengers were inside - several of whom were injured.

The immigrants, who also blocked a road, clashed with police in riot gear. Police said seven immigrants were arrested. Thirty-two people, including 18 policemen, were injured.

The incidents took place after white youths in a car fired air rifles at a group of African immigrants returning from work on farms, injuring two of them.

"Those guys were firing at us as if it were a fair ground, they were laughing. I was screaming and there were other cars passing by but nobody stopped, nobody called the police," Kamal, a Moroccan, told La Repubblica newspaper.

Yesterday morning some 2,000 immigrants demonstrated in front of the town hall to protest against what they said was racist treatment by many locals. Some shouted "we are not animals" and carried signs reading "Italians here are racist".

Scattered acts of vandalism by immigrants continued yesterday morning as some smashed store windows. Police said that in two separate incidents Rosarno residents had tried to run over immigrants with their cars.

Schools and many shops were closed as tensions remained high. One white resident fired live ammunition in the air from a terrace, local media reported. The situation was calm by early evening, although some feared more violence during the night.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni ordered more police to the area and set up a task force to look into the causes of the violence.

Mr Maroni, from the far-right Northern League party that is a junior partner in Silvio Berlusconi's government, sparked controversy when he said one of the reasons for the violence was that illegal immigration had been "tolerated all these years".

Opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani and several centre-left politicians accused Mr Maroni of fuelling the tensions.

"Maroni is passing the buck... we have to go to the roots of the problem: Mafia, exploitation, xenophobia and racism," Mr Bersani said.