Angry Neapolitans blocked railway tracks, hurled stones at police and overturned vehicles on Saturday to protest against plans to reopen a waste dump to deal with the city's long-running refuse crisis. Naples has for years struggled with mounds of rubbish piling up on its streets due to mismanagement and corruption, while its waste dumps also fill up.
Authorities are trying to reopen an old landfill in the southern Italian city's outskirts that was shut in 1996. Residents fear this will harm their health and about 150 people blocked the entrance to the dump to prevent trucks carrying building materials from entering. They were finally allowed through after police intervened.
Demonstrators - who began protests earlier this week - also overturned small three-wheeled vehicles while others threw stones at police. Two people were slightly injured, police said. Another group of demonstrators stood on railway tracks in the city's outskirts, forcing some trains to take alternative routes, police said.
Residents have been setting piles of garbage on the streets ablaze and firemen had to put out more than 80 of the fires overnight, fire authorities said.