Crowds protest as rubbish piles higher in Naples

ANGRY crowds in Naples hung effigies of city officials from lampposts yesterday in protest over huge piles of rubbish building up in the streets.

Collectors stopped gathering refuse on December 21 because there was nowhere to take it. Local dumps are full and protestors have blocked plans for new ones.

Residents have resorted to burning their rubbish, raising fears of toxic smoke.

Naples and other parts of the southern Campania region have been plagued by a series of garbage crises for more than a decade.

Dumps fill up and local communities block efforts to build new ones or create temporary storage sites. In 2004, a garbage crisis prompted weeks of protests.

Yesterday about 100 young protesters marched on City Hall; some occupied a central balcony and the roof, where they hung banners protesting the dump reopening and demanding a fully fledged plan to improve recycling in the area.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera ran a lengthy investigation detailing recent findings by a parliamentary committee that allege corruption and inefficiency in the commissioner’s office.

Environment Minister Antonio Pecoraro Scanio blamed the “ecomafia”, a reference to Naples’ organised crime syndicate, the Camorra. He said the only way to escape the mob’s hold on Naples’ garbage was to get more Neapolitans to recycle.