
Migrants and refugees threw rocks, bottles and gas cans at police in riot gear who were clearing more than a hundred of them from a makeshift camp in Rome.

They stood defiant in the face of the police's powerful water cannons as they were cleared from a piazza near Termini station.

The refugees occupied Indipendenza square in Rome in defiance of an order to leave an adjacent office building where as many as 800 had been squatting.

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Migrants and refugees threw rocks, bottles and gas cans at police in riot gear who were clearing about 100 people from a makeshift camp in a Rome

The refugees stood defiant in the face of the police's powerful water cannon as they were cleared from a piazza near Termini station. Pictured: A policeman comforts a crying refugee who was evicted from an adjacent office building

The refugees occupied the small square in Rome in defiance of an order to leave an adjacent office building where as many as 800 had been squatting

Officials defended the decision to evict them, saying they refused to move to accommodation they had provided elsewhere in the city

TV footage showed some of the refugees - many from Eritrea - screaming and trying to hit police who were armed with batons and shields

Officials defended the decision to evict them, saying they refused to move to accommodation provided for them.

TV footage showed some of the refugees - many from Eritrea - screaming and trying to hit police who were armed with batons and shields.

The square, just one block from Rome's main train station, was strewn with mattresses, overturned rubbish bins and broken plastic chairs.

Hung on the building they once occupied was a sheet with the words, 'we are refugees, not terrorists', in Italian.

Police began clearing the building at dawn Saturday in the latest of several such operations as the city struggles to find accommodation for new migrants.

On Sunday, the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) voiced 'grave concern' over the mass eviction - a sign of the country's growing frustration at Europe's migrant crisis.

It said 200 of those expelled from the building were forced to sleep on the streets in a city already home to hundreds of homeless refugees who fled persecution and war, including many children.

TV footage showed some of the refugees - many from Eritrea - screaming and trying to hit police who were armed with batons and shields

Italian law enforcement officers use water cannons to disperse around a hundred migrants protesting at Indipendenza square

The square, just one block from Rome's main train station, was strewn with mattresses, overturned rubbish bins and broken plastic chairs

Migrants who once occupied an office building adjacent to the square were seen running from police water cannons

Two people were detained following today's clashes in which migrants were knocked to the ground by police water cannons

Commentators interpreted this weekend's eviction - carried out when Rome was virtually deserted - as a sign of hardening attitudes in Italy towards asylum seekers

Hung on the building hundreds of migrants once occupied in central Rome was a sheet with the words: 'We are refugees, not terrorists'

Italy's reception facilities are under massive strain from migrants and the centre-left government, facing elections next year, is under pressure on the issue

Interior Minister Marco Minniti, who has ultimate responsibility for Saturday's eviction, has recently overseen a series of controversial moves aimed at ending the crisis

Commentators interpreted the unexpected eviction - carried out when Rome was virtually deserted - as a sign of hardening attitudes in Italy towards asylum seekers.

Around 600,000 migrants have landed in Italy since 2014 - with more than 14,000 perishing on the treacherous route across the Mediterranean - but the country has seen a sharp fall in those arriving this year.

Around 13,500 have arrived in Italy since July 1, compared to 30,500 over the same period in 2016, a year-on-year fall of more than 55 percent.

Italy's reception facilities are still under massive strain and the centre-left government, facing elections next year, is under pressure on the issue.

In June. Italy threatened to close its ports to aid groups rescuing migrants off Libya's coast with its representative to the EU, Maurizio Massari, saying the situation 'had become unsustainable'.

After 10,000 refugees tried to cross the Mediterranean in just four days that month, Italy's former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said citizens were 'exasperated'.

Around 600,000 migrants have landed in Italy since 2014, with more than 14,000 perishing on the treacherous route across the Mediterranean

Anti-refugee sentiment in the country is said to be growing but the numbers of those arriving on Italy's shores has fallen dramatically this year

Around 13,500 have arrived in Italy since July 1, compared to 30,500 over the same period in 2016, a year-on-year fall of more than 55 percent

Interior Minister Marco Minniti, who has ultimate responsibility for Saturday's eviction, has recently overseen a series of controversial moves aimed at ending the crisis.

These include steps to curb the activity of charity and other privately-funded boats rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean and Italian naval support for Libyan coastguard efforts to intercept boats headed for Europe.

Earlier this month, deputy foreign minister Mario Giro announced Italy is pushing for centres for refugees to be set up in Libya which could provide safety.

Giro said: 'We are working on it, but it's difficult... We need funds, agreements with the authorities and access to the country.'