"This is open urban warfare".

These were the excited words of the President of the Orson Welles Neighbourhood Society, Ginés Quiñonero Solano, after more than a thousand people rioted today in Palma de Mallorca, leading to running battles between ethnic Gitano (Gypsy) groups and African Immigrants, mainly Nigerian. Police battled to keep control, and three people were left seriously injured. Most of the disturbances happened in the Son Gotleu part of the city.

"The Authorities are powerless to stop these fights, which are a culmination of tensions that have built up over the last few years" said Mr Solano to El País newspaper. Mr Solano, an important community leader who has appealed for calm, said that the problems were a direct result of the city council forcing immigrants into poor parts of the city with no social support, leading to resentment from people already living there.

All over a pair of sunglasses

According to the Balearic Islands Police Department, the fight started after a local Gypsy woman dropped her sunglasses out of the window. When she managed to park and walk back, she found a Nigerian man trying them on. She remonstrated with the man, and the fight escalated into a small riot as friends of both sides joined the fight. "Within minutes", according to bystanders, stones were being thrown, urban furniture uprooted and windows smashed.

Two units of the Police were called but were powerless to intervene. They requested riot police backup, who tried to stop the rioting.

Mr Solano told reporters that the fight "has been building for years. There is a hatred between the two social groups... a pressure has been building over the last few years. The fires of war have built by numerous small confrontations between the youths of both sides".

Mr Solano has been an active voice in the past, warning of the possibility of rioting.

Residents of Son Gotleu are scared, and police, fearful of a reoccurence of events such as in El Ejido last year, have the area in a complete lockdown.