Homeless West African immigrants clashed with police at Naples Duomo Monday after staging a sit-in in the cathedral.
A scuffle broke out as police tried to get the immigrants out of the building and two people were arrested.
A stand-off ensued in which police vans ringed the building and immigrants lay down on pews inside, refusing to leave the cathedral if it meant having to be identified.
The immigrants, mainly from Ghana, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, are protesting after a fire in a rundown building left them homeless.
They accuse authorities of ignoring their plight while rehousing the Italians who were living in the building.
