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INTERNATIONAL ROUNDUP
Britain Tightens Restrictions On Failed Asylum Seekers 
  
Yesterday, British officials announced intentions to tighten its immigration laws and will order failed asylum seekers to leave the country within days. Those who wish to appeal will be required to do so in their home country, or the country from which they last came. 
  
The proposal will be incorporated into the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum bill now being considered by Parliament, and reflects an angry attitude among Britons as new figures indicate a soar in asylum applications this year – 19,520 during the first quarter. A report in The Guardian puts the rise between the first quarter and the quarter previous at 8%. 
  
The proposal would affect 3 out of 4 asylum seekers, and Refugee support groups fear the failed asylum seekers would be unable to mount legal challenges from abroad. Most of the new arrivals reach England from another European country, frequently France, where the Channel Tunnel has become a politically charged trouble spot. European leaders will meet next month in Seville, Spain, with immigration and harmonizing international responses on the agenda. 
  
Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Spanish counterpart, Josè Maria Anzar, said after a meeting this month that the issue must be resolved or it would be exploited by the anti-immigrant far right that has been heating up in countries like France, the Netherlands and Denmark, recently showing increased political strength. 
  
  
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Italian Gondoliers Protest Illegal Immigrant Street Merchants 
  
Hundreds of gondoliers blocked Venice’s Grand Canal Thursday, crossing oars and refused to take passengers to demonstrate against a number of illegal immigrants hawking goods in the city, saying they drive customers away. The demonstrators gathered by Venice’s city hall, near Rialto Bridge, one of the lagoon city’s best-known landmarks. 
  
Immigrants in Venice represent 2.6 percent of the population, but gondoliers say there are too many of them working as street vendors, selling clothes, bags and souvenirs. They claim many of them are illegal immigrants from Africa, and that they drive tourist customers away by harassing them. 
  
The Italian parliament is debating tough new immigration laws, in part led by center-right Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has proposed legislation to restrict the number of immigrants and to tighten controls on those who have already arrived illegally. Italy’s long coastline is an easy target for illegal immigrants from north Africa, eastern Europe and Asia. 
  
According to one study, Venice has seen its immigrant population grow more quickly than other Italian cities’ because many hope to find work selling goods to its many tourists. 
  
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Iraqi Asylum Seekers End Hunger Strike in Denmark 
  
Twenty seven Iraqi refugees who are seeking political asylum in Denmark have ended their weeklong hunger strike at Copenhagen’s cathedral after the government indicated they will not be deported against their will. Our Lady Church allowed the group to stay inside provided they didn’t disturb church activities. 
  
Immigration Minister Bertel Haarder informed the group that Danish policy is not to return Iraqi refugees against their will. 
  
In February the Danish immigration agency changed its policy of automatic asylum from government-controlled parts of Iraq, after a U.N. refugee agency report concluded that refugees from much of Iraq no longer face persecution if they return voluntarily. Iraqis have been one of the largest groups of asylum seekers in Denmark for the past five years.