Europe News

Stand-off in Naples district over rubbish dump (1st Lead)

May 24, 2008, 9:51 GMT

Naples, Italy - Tensions remained high Saturday in a Naples suburb as new clashes broke out between police and residents protesting the opening of a rubbish dump in the area. Baton-wielding riot police charged protestors who were preventing authorities from towing away a bus used as a barricade to block traffic in one of the Chiaiano district's main streets. Television images showed one man being treated for a gash on his head. Earlier Saturday three Chiaiano residents, including a 83-year-old woman, injured when demonstrators scuffled with police on Friday night, were released from hospital, news reports said. Police arrested three demonstrators involved in the overnight clashes in Chiaiano, the news reports said. Several hundred residents continued their stand-off with authorities on Saturday, with a protest march planned in the afternoon near a quarry the government has selected as a dump site. The quarry, which lies between Chiaiano and Marano, a town north of Naples, is one of 10 dump sites identified by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's newly elected government to deal with the city's rubbish crisis. Refuse has gone mostly uncollected in Naples since late December when all existing dump sites became full. Illegal dumping organized by the local Camorra mafia, which holds a stake in the lucrative business of waste disposal, and officials' ineptitude have been blamed for the crisis.

Europe News

Stand-off in Naples district over rubbish dump (1st Lead)

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