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</TD></TR><TR><TD>News @ AsiaOne
Italian city cracks down on Chinese community
Local authorities see Prato as a sort of new Chinese gangland. -AFP
Wed, Dec 22, 2010
AFP
PRATO, Italy - Italian police officers sweep through the mosquito-infested clothes workshop, rifling through personal belongings and cracking jokes about the foreign food as six Chinese labourers look on in fear.
Boxes filled with sparkling black shrugs and red party dresses spill onto the floor of the warehouse - one of 3,400 small Chinese businesses in Prato in central Italy that produce clothes for companies including Zara and H&M.
"I don't understand what the problem is, we did everything correctly," said Giujir, who declined to give her surname because of the police investigation, as she waited by a row of leopard-print dresses for her turn for questioning.
"There isn't much work this year because of the crisis, and we have to pay the rent. I know the police have to carry out lots of controls but it just makes the situation worse," said the worn-out 30-year-old.
This is the first raid of the week in the historic town of Prato in Tuscany - a place local authorities see as a sort of new Chinese gangland but immigrants defend as a revitalised hub of Italy's flagging textile industry.
Chinese immigrants began arriving in Prato some 20 years ago, initially working for Italian companies before setting up their own businesses.
There are now around 17,000 Chinese out of a population of 188,000 - 50,000 if you include the estimated number of undocumented immigrants.
Though Chinese workers are now involved in every stage of production even the cloth is imported because it costs 10 times less than Italian fabric - the companies can legally sell their clothes with the "Made in Italy" label.
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Italian city cracks down on Chinese community
Local authorities see Prato as a sort of new Chinese gangland. -AFP
Wed, Dec 22, 2010
AFP
PRATO, Italy - Italian police officers sweep through the mosquito-infested clothes workshop, rifling through personal belongings and cracking jokes about the foreign food as six Chinese labourers look on in fear.
Boxes filled with sparkling black shrugs and red party dresses spill onto the floor of the warehouse - one of 3,400 small Chinese businesses in Prato in central Italy that produce clothes for companies including Zara and H&M.
"I don't understand what the problem is, we did everything correctly," said Giujir, who declined to give her surname because of the police investigation, as she waited by a row of leopard-print dresses for her turn for questioning.
"There isn't much work this year because of the crisis, and we have to pay the rent. I know the police have to carry out lots of controls but it just makes the situation worse," said the worn-out 30-year-old.
This is the first raid of the week in the historic town of Prato in Tuscany - a place local authorities see as a sort of new Chinese gangland but immigrants defend as a revitalised hub of Italy's flagging textile industry.
Chinese immigrants began arriving in Prato some 20 years ago, initially working for Italian companies before setting up their own businesses.
There are now around 17,000 Chinese out of a population of 188,000 - 50,000 if you include the estimated number of undocumented immigrants.
Though Chinese workers are now involved in every stage of production even the cloth is imported because it costs 10 times less than Italian fabric - the companies can legally sell their clothes with the "Made in Italy" label.
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