Local people clapped and cheered yesterday as hundreds of Africans were moved by police out of a small town in Calabria following clashes in which immigrant farmworkers were shot at, severely beaten and run over.

More than 300 immigrants were loaded on to buses in the riot-torn town of Rosarno, destined for immigrant holding centres. Meanwhile, an immigrant was shot from a moving car with a pellet rifle, bringing to five the number who have been shot.

The first shooting, last Thursday, provoked a violent protest march by Africans through Rosarno, which left 66 injured. A second immigrant was beaten with metal bars yesterday despite a heavy police presence in and around Rosarno.

"There is a very serious security problem here and many immigrants working on local farms are scared and just want to get out, even though many have not been paid," said Laura Boldrini, a UN official, after touring some of the disused factories in which immigrants sleep after returning from poorly paid shifts in nearby fields.

"My fear is that the government will use this opportunity to expel those who do not have permits to stay in Italy," said Jean-Léonard Touadi, Italy's only black MP.

Reportshave emerged of mafia involvement in a vigilante-style response by locals to the immigrants' protest, including setting up a roadblock and hunting down stray Africans in the streets of Rosarno. Among the Italians arrested was Antonio Bellocco, 29, who is related to members of the feared Bellocco clan, which controls the area in which the fruit farms are situated, the newspaper La Repubblica reported.

A year ago, two immigrant pickers were shot and wounded by a gunman in the disused factory where they were staying.

"This is the very first time the Africans rebel against the local 'Ndrangheta mafia which dominates the fruit and vegetable businesses," said Francesco Forgione, a former head of Italy's parliamentary anti-mafia commission.

"During their protest they even surrounded the house of an old boss in the Pesce clan, which is powerful locally, something the Calabrians have never done."

The Pesce and Bellocco clans are both believed to be involved in racketeering at the nearby container port of Gioia Tauro.

Touadi said: "[African imigrants] need to be helped or the Italian south will this year become like Alabama in the 1920s, just as Rosarno is now."