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.
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