It is home to one of the biggest Chinese communities in Europe and a booming textile industry notorious for sweatshop exploitation. But a crackdown by Italian authorities on the increasingly powerful Chinese group in Tuscany, with searches of Chinese-run factories, nightclubs and community groups that resulted in clashes last week has drawn the ire of China’s foreign ministry. Italy fire opens seedy side of Chinese migrant labour Tensions had been rising in the town of Prato, Italy’s textile capital, where people began emigrating from China in the mid-1990s. Some 50,000 Chinese work in the area, making clothes and handbags with the prized “Made in Italy” label. Many of the area’s textile businesses depend on the labour of illegal immigrants, ignoring safety rules and evading taxes. The area is also the focus of an investigation into alleged illicit transfers of some 4.5 billion euros ($5.01 billion) to China from Italy between 2006 and 2010. We need the Chinese community to respect the law and integrate. We cannot have ‘free zones’ Regional President Enrico Rossi The trouble in Prato began on Wednesday, when state health officials, who stepped up checks after seven people died in a fire at a garment workshop in 2013, went to inspect a factory. The owner reacted angrily after an inspector noted minor violations of health and safety rules, shoving the inspector and the police accompanying him, according to a police source. Pope urges Italy's 'Chinatown' to fight back against sweatshop exploitation and corruption Chinese workers then barricaded themselves inside the factory, and hundreds more gathered outside. They threw stones and bottles at the police carrying truncheons and shields sent in to disperse the crowd. Two Chinese citizens and a policeman were injured. Regional President Enrico Rossi vowed to tackle crime in the area, where he said half of all economic activity is illegal, 1 billion euros in taxes go unpaid every year, and money is laundered through international transfers. He said on Friday he had discussed the Prato incident with Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni. “The situation is unacceptable,” Rossi said. “We need the Chinese community to respect the law and integrate. We cannot have ‘free zones’. We will keep up inspections to clean up this immense production system.” Chinese officials in Florence went to the site of the clashes and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a news conference on Friday that the situation was under control. Bank of Italy conducts supervisory inspection at Bank of China offices, roiled by illicit remittance case China had asked Italy “to enforce the law in a civilised way, conduct fair investigation and protect the security and lawful rights and interests of Chinese citizens in Italy”. Hong also advised Chinese people in Italy to “defend their rights and interests in a law-abiding and rational way”, his ministry said on its website. In the aftermath of Wednesday’s violence, the factory owner and a worker were arrested on suspicion of causing injury and resisting public officials. Protesters gathered outside the court that confirmed the arrest order, saying public officials used excessive force when inspecting the factories. “We want justice,” said a protester who said his parents had come from China and gave his name only as Luca. Busting the sweatshop boom As part of the crackdown, police in Prato conducted searches Friday and placed nine people under investigation in a separate probe into the operations of a Chinese community group, the White Stag association, said Prato’s deputy police chief, Francesco Nannucci. He said members of the group, formed recently to safeguard the interests of the Chinese community, had conducted vigilante patrols, beating up Moroccans and other North Africans. Those detained were accused of criminal association aimed at racial violence, he said. Nannucci said Friday’s searches were unrelated to the clashes earlier in the week but were part of a broader crackdown into criminal activity within the Chinese community. He noted that the head of the White Stag association and another Chinese expat were arrested last month as part of an investigation into prostitution and the drug trade in Chinese-run nightclubs. Nannucci said some members of White Stag took part in Wednesday’s protests. The latest incidents underline long-standing tensions between the Italian authorities and the country’s Chinese community, which has prospered economically but is regularly accused of showing no interest in integration and of sending millions in untaxed profits back to China. There are more than 270,000 Chinese living in Italy, of whom over a fifth own their own businesses, and the community contributes some six billion euros to the Italian economy, according to the Leone Moressa foundation. They have been there mostly for at least a couple of generations and still they are very closed off Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong Prato is officially home to some 16,000 Chinese nationals out of a total population of 191,000. But local sources say the real figure could be closer to 50,000. Liu Xiaodong, the acclaimed Chinese contemporary artist, spent time in the town earlier this year and included several paintings of its Chinese residents in his recent “Migrations” exhibition in Florence. Liu said his contact with the Prato Chinese had left him surprised by the slow pace of their adaptation to Italian life. Made in Italy, by Chinese workers, December 31 “They have been there mostly for at least a couple of generations and still they are very closed off,” the artist said. “They have their own customs and traditions and are still very separate from the local population. This model of migration is also problematic.” Additional reporting by Associated Press and Agence France-Presse