Residents of Cagliari have reacted with fury to a protest held by migrants that blocked traffic and left the city in a standstill.

The Eritrean and Somali migrants, who are living on the island after having been rescued off the Libyan coast last month, want to be allowed to leave to travel further into Europe.

According to Breitbart, the protesters marched through the streets before occupying the city centre for seven hours.

Daniele Caruso, a local politician, told the website: 'Cagliari is hostage to illegal immigrants. Yet another street protest forces us to confront a public policy problem that can no longer be underrated.'

The protest last night eventually ended when they were talked down and sent back to their shelter outside the city.

The anti-immigration Northern League's Matteo Salvini said: 'I am sick and tired of these immigrants. They want to leave, so let’s weigh them and ship them back home.'

The boats on which the migrants arrived had left Libya late last month but ran into trouble while crossing the Mediterranean.

At the time, the Italian coastguard said it had rescued more than 1,500 migrants in 11 separate operations in the Strait of Sicily in the space of a few days.

It comes as several dozen migrants being detained at a holding camp on the Greek island of Lesbos today also protested, shouting: 'We want freedom!'

They were among thousands of refugees and migrants who have arrived on Lesbos on or since March 20 from Turkey and who are being held under a new EU agreement with Ankara until their asylum requests are processed and they are accepted or sent back.

The first group of 202 migrants, most from Pakistan, were returned to Turkey on Monday from Lesbos and the Aegean island of Chios.

Through barbed wire at the Moria camp on Lesbos, one man held up a piece of cardboard, which read: 'Kill us if you want.'