Scuffles Break Out Between Police And Protesters At Italy-Austria Border

Italian demonstrators scuffled with Austrian police on the Alpine Brenner Pass border on Sunday when hundreds of people marched in solidarity with migrants and against recent deals to repatriate some of them to control the flow. The scuffles broke out when one group prodded the police with umbrellas and tried to breach the barriers erected by the security forces. Hundreds of had people joined the march, including some leftist politicians to condemn Austria's decision to toughen border controls in response to unprecedented migrant flows into Europe. One demonstrator was arrested, prompting a sit-down protest in front of the police lines by fellow marchers demanding his release, but no injuries were reported. Austria said this month it would introduce tougher controls at the Brenner Pass crossing from June 1 at the latest, prompting complaints from Rome, which says the plan breaches EU rules on the free movement of people. The EU said last week it was assessing the complaint. The Brenner Pass is the most important Alpine crossing for heavy goods traffic and the controls, if introduced, risk slowing down transport and hurting trade between Italy and Germany.