[QODLink]
Europe
French far-right leader heckled
Marie Le Pen faces protests in Italian island as she visits centre for North Africa immigrants.
Last Modified: 15 Mar 2011 07:31 GMT

Just weeks into her new job, Marie Le Pen, France's far right leader, was greeted by protesters in the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Le Pen said her visit was aimed at gathering information, not a provocation, but added that Europe was "impotent" to the challenge of immigration and needed to find a solution.

But the island's mayor backed her. "She is coming here to understand what is happening here," he said.

Nearly 9,000 people have arrived on the island since January, many fleeing unrest in North Africa.

Al Jazeera's Shamim Chowdhury reports.
Source:
Al Jazeera
Topics in this article
People
Country
Featured on Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera's exclusive publishing of a key Guantanamo prison military document lays bare the brutality of force-feeding.
Former military official says poverty and anger in indigenous communities mean conditions for an "insurgency" are ripe.
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Featured
Syria: The War Within
Two years since the start of the uprising, rebels and Assad's forces remain locked in conflict.
China Rising
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Crisis in Bangladesh
Extensive coverage of war crimes tribunals and controversial calls for blasphemy laws.
Al-Nakba
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Korea Tensions
Al Jazeera looks at the escalation of military threats between N Korea and geopolitical rivals.
join our mailing list