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Italian Villagers Barricade Road To Stop Refugees From Entering Their Town

REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou

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Jacob Bojesson Foreign Correspondent
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Residents in an Italian village barricaded the road and refused to let a small group of refugees enter the town Monday night.

The town of Gorino, home to around 500 people, was asked to relocate 12 women and eight children by regional authorities. Almost half the town’s population showed up for a protest ahead of the migrants’ arrival, as they blocked the road with planks of wood and iron bins.

The locals shouted “we don’t want them here” as the bus approached the village, which forced the migrants to leave the town and get resettled in other communities throughout the region.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi considered the stunt a bit extreme, especially since the migrants were women and children.

“Goro and Gorino, perhaps there could have been better communication from the state, but the Italy I know walks the extra mile to accommodate [12] women and eight children,” Renzi wrote in a tweet.

Anti-immigration sentiment is growing across Italy as the country is struggling to cope financially with the refugee influx of 155,000 so far in 2016. (RELATED: Italy Fears It Will Have To Put 20,000 Refugees On The Streets After Running Out Of Money)

Renzi threatened to veto the European Union’s budget proposal Tuesday if countries don’t start sharing the burden with Italy.

“Italy cannot take another year like the one we’ve just had,” Renzi said Tuesday, according to Reuters.

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