Italy’s new centre-right government on Thursday announced the arrests of more than 400 people in a crackdown on illegal immigration but drew protests from community leaders who accuse the authorities of fuelling vigilante attacks on minorities.

Prominent figures in the Jewish, Roman Catholic and Roma gypsy communities warned of the dangers of the state turning a blind eye to a campaign of terror, which in Naples may have been orchestrated against gypsy camps by Mafia gangs.