NAPLES: LOAD OF RUBBISH

A volcano of unrest seems ready to erupt as Naples has been rocked by a series of protests over plans for a new waste dump, inside a national park at the foot of Mount Vesuvius.

In an attempt to combat the government’s proposed plan for the area, demonstrators have set fire to vehicles and blocked the road leading to it with tree trunks, not to mention fighting police with rocks, firecrackers and Molotov cocktails. On Saturday (23rd) hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police with a reported six policemen injured.

Uncollected mountains of rubbish have been accumulating all over Naples and the surrounding region of Campania throughout the protests.

Locals are concerned that the existing dumping facility stinks and suspect it is being used to deposit toxic waste. Since the 1990’s the waste disposal business for Naples has been infiltrated by the local mafia, the Camorra, who use the incinerators and landfill sites to dump toxic waste if the price is right. Residents have become wary of agreeing to disposal sites that will be used by the mob in this way.

The situation has been getting progressively worse over the last few months, and on Friday (22nd) the bent Baron Berlusconi himself was forced to intervene and promise to suspend the opening of the new dump just in order to get the situation under control.

So the plans for a second dump at Terzigno National Park have been put on hold until the old dump fills up. But given the circumstances and the foul stench of Italian politics, the protesters refuse to back down until more substantial solutions are offered to combat the debris.