Stand-off in Naples district over rubbish dump (Roundup)

May 24, 2008, 15:09 GMT

Naples, Italy - Tensions remained high Saturday in a Naples suburb after fresh clashes broke out between police and residents protesting the proposed opening of a rubbish dump in the area.

In the morning baton-wielding Italian 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.

By Saturday afternoon several hundred residents were gathering in front of Chiaiano's metro station to take part in a authorized march to a quarry in the town which the government has designated as a dump site.

Joining the protestors, were local mayors and Alessandra Mussolini, a parliamentarian elected with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, and granddaughter of World War II dictator, Benito Mussolini.

'I am here to be with the people,' said Mussolini, who was applauded by some demonstrators, but jeered by others who pointed out she was part of the government which has ordered the dump site.

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.

The quarry, which lies between Chiaiano and Marano, a town north of Naples, is one of 10 dump sites identified by the newly elected centre-right 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 waste disposal business, and officials' ineptitude have been blamed for the crisis.