Heavy clashes erupted when Italian police attempted to disperse a crowd of some 100 African migrants who had set up a temporary camp in Rome. Dramatic footage shows law enforcement deploying a water cannon and batons while ecnountering fierce resistance.

ROME (Sputnik) — The migrants hurled stones and bottles at the officers who were trying to remove them from Piazza Indipendenza (Independence Square) where they set up a camp on Saturday. Two people were detained.

The law enforcement had learned that some migrants might have inflammable materials, so the water cannon was deployed to prevent their use. The police also said that the migrants had refused to move to the accommodation provided by the authorities.

The migrants established the camp after being evicted from a house, which they had occupied for the last four years.

🆘‼️😯#Italy: MIGRANTS protest in #Rome: "We are not terrorists, we ONLY want a house for living." Some ppl. had to work hard to have a house! pic.twitter.com/Zkf7AjfHjc — Onlinemagazin (@OnlineMagazin) 24 августа 2017 г.

Piazza Indipendenza is currently under control of the law enforcement as many of the evicted migrants could be hiding in neighboring blocks.

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Police in #Rome clear the occupied square at "Piazza Indipendenza" by migrants with water cannons. pic.twitter.com/lDyJ7jLI5x — Vocal Europe (@thevocaleurope) 24 августа 2017 г.

Italy alongside Greece has been serving as an entry point to the EU for migrants from Africa and the Middle East, who are escaping violence and poverty in their countries of origin. According to the latest data of the International Organization for Migration, the number of arrivals in Italy via the Mediterranean reached 97,931, for the period between January 1 and August 20.