By Prensa Latina
Rome : The crisis started at the beginning of January in the Italian southern region of Campania because of the accumulation of trash on the island of Sardinia, with severe confrontations between the police and demonstrators Saturday.
The local press said at least 10 people were arrested in protests by thousands of people against the sending of 500,000 tons of trash coming from the city of Naples to Sardinia, in the western Mediterranean.
Demonstrators in the city of Cagliari, mostly young people, threw stones and bottles at the police, who responded with clubs and tear gas.
The Italian government decided this week to send a ship with urban waste to solve the crisis in Naples because of the lack of dumps.
The emergency plan involves the Army, new incinerators in this zone and other places of Italy, and has generated dissent from local governments and popular protests.
Official estimates said there are 110,000 tons of raw trash in Campania, and only in Naples, the regional capital, 5,200 tons were accumulated in less than a week.
The chaotic situation, which provoked violent confrontations between the police and demonstrators at the beginning of January, is attributed to the insufficient infrastructure and the control exerted by the local mafia, known as Camorra.