Naples residents attack firefighters as rubbish piles burn

Angry residents in Naples have attacked firefighters trying to extinguish burning rubbish as the collection crisis worsens, authorities said today.

Firefighters said the residents threw stones at them overnight and in one case attacked them with fire extinguishers. No injuries were reported.

The firefighters said police had to escort them while putting out more than 100 fires overnight and 30 this morning. About a dozen other fires were burning, they said.

Italian television footage showed rubbish set ablaze overnight and rubbish bins overturned in the city.

"We are unprepared and defenceless when faced with the aggression of criminals," Ugo Bonessio, chief firefighter in Naples, said. "I hope these acts end because in addition to harming us, they prevent us from giving help."

Rubbish problems have plagued Naples and its surrounding Campania region for years.

Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi will preside next week over an extraordinary Cabinet meeting being held in Naples that is devoted to the waste collection crisis in the Mediterranean city.

The latest crisis broke out in December when collectors stopped picking up rubbish because there was no more room at dumps. Protests by residents, citing health risks, have hindered the construction or reopening of dumps and disposal plants.

Authorities have also blamed organised crime groups' infiltration of rubbish collection services.

Earlier this month, the EU's executive commission began legal action against Italy over the crisis.