Mar 18, 2011, 18:59 GMT
Lampedusa, Italy - Residents of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa successfully blocked government officials from unloading more refugees from boats to overcrowded camps Friday, as tensions on the island heated up, Italian media reported..
By early evening, four ships were moored off the island with about 200 refugees who had been picked up from boats trying to flee northern Africa. Residents were occupying the piers of the island's two harbours.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a refugee facility on the island designed for 850 is currently housing 2,600.
Most of the migrants are from Tunisia, though there are concerns of a Libyan exodus as the security situation there continues to deteriorate, warned the UNHCR.
'This island is about to collapse and the risk that unrest will break out is steadily climbing,' said Lampedusa Mayor Benardino de Rubeis.
Proposals to set up a tent city for the refugees has met with a wave of popular protest. 'We are the Guantanamo of Italy,' said de Rubeis.
In the wake of Tunisia's uprising in January, a total of 5,600 Tunisian immigrants arrived on the island over the course of a few days in February. The island's population is only 4,500.
Lampedusa lies just 130 kilometres from Tunisia.
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