In Porto Empedocle in the province of Agrigento, Sicily, a man chained himself in protest in front of a disused sports center to try to stop local authorities from transferring migrants to the facility. He had claimed that the migrants would crowd the area of his cafe at the port, putting him out of business.

The sports center had been intended as temporary accommodation for the migrants – among them children – who spent the night between Sunday and Monday in tents at the port, despite the fact that temperatures had significantly dropped.

'I want to protect my employees'

Alfonso Crapanzano, the cafe owner who staged the protest, said he had nothing against migrants, but his business was being put at risk.

"I chained myself to protect my employees who provide me with a living," he said. "There are other solutions – there is a warehouse nearby."

The protest ended on Monday evening when all those taking part unchained themselves and the cafe reopened. Police gave a guarantee that the migrants would enter the sports center via the back entrance and that none of those leaving the port area, which has been set up for pre-identification procedures, would pass by Crapanzano's cafe.