Migrant facilities on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa were again strained to bursting point on Tuesday after more than 400 immigrants arrived by boat in less than 24 hours.
Around 1,800 immigrants from Tunisia, Nigeria, Somalia and Eritrea are currently crammed into the 850-bed centre as a result of Interior Minister Roberto Maroni's pledge that all new arrivals must remain on the island before being identified and immediately repatriated.
In the past, immigrants have been transferred to other centres on mainland Italy, but under the new measure introduced by Maroni in December, only immigrants recognised as asylum seekers can be moved.
A group of Lampedusa residents staged a protest outside the centre on Tuesday, while the centre's chief, Cono Galipo', also expressed his concern.
''We are seriously worried: until now we've been able to cope with the emergency by inventing temporary solutions like the use of tents, but if there are any more landings we won't know where to put them,'' Galipo' said.
''There's a limit to everything, including the space we have available''.
The centrist UDC party Senate whip Gianpiero D'Alia called on the government to alleviate conditions at the centre, which he said were threatening public order.
''The absence of accords with some countries of origin thwarts all of Maroni's promises of immediate repatriation for immigrants and a rosy future for the island,'' D'Alia said.
''The reality is that the centre is collapsing, the landings continue without cease and the islanders are paying a high price for government inefficiency''.
The interior ministry on Tuesday sent a task force from the civil liberies department to analyse the situation and study possible solutions.
A number of Egyptian immigrants have so far been repatriated thanks to an accord with Cairo facilitating such transfers, but Italy lacks similar deals with other countries.
Last week Maroni appealed to European Union interior ministers to introduce EU accords with immigrants' countries of origin in order to facilitate repatriation.
Maroni has also promised to iron out areas of contention in a deal between Italy and Libya that will give the go-ahead to joint patrols of the Libyan coastline to prevent boats setting out by the end of January.
According to United Nations Refugee Agency figures, some 36,000 people have landed on Italian coasts in the last twelve months - a 75% increase compared to 2007 figures.
The statistics reveal that Italy took more than half of the 67,000 immigrants who arrived by sea in Europe last year.
The majority of Italy's illegal immigrants - around 31,000 - arrived on the island of Lampedusa, which is closer to the north African coast than the Italian mainland.
UNHCR said around 75% of the arrivals ask for asylum, and 50% are recognised as refugees.
