ITALY IN RUBBISH CRISIS David Willey, BBC News, RomeProtesters on the Mediterranean islands of Sardinia and Sicily are challenging the Italian government's attempts to transport to their islands rubbish from Naples. The streets of Naples are stinking, piled with thousands of tones of rotting rubbish. 'Not in my backyard' is becoming the motto for millions of Italians being asked to accept unwanted trash from Naples. Every merchant ship that docks at ports in Sicily and Sardinia after sailing from the mainland is being scrutinised to see if it is attempting to land some of the accumulated rubbish from the Naples area that the Italian authorities are trying to clear. Up to two hundred thousand tons of stinking household trash is being bulldozed by the army and loaded onto cargo ships and freight trains to destinations in various parts of Italy. Local landfills around Naples are all full. In Sicily and Sardinia several protesters have been injured in scuffles with the police after ships docked with Neapolitan waste. Two men were arrested on charges of planning to hurl firebombs against the residence of the head of Sardinia's local regional government, Renato Soru. The government in Rome has asked regional authorities all over the country to accept some of this huge accumulation of waste that Neapolitans fear is now a health hazard. A former police chief and an army general are in charge of operations to clean up the port city. Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has added his voice to those criticising the authorities for allowing the rubbish crisis to get out of hand. He said Italy's image abroad had been seriously damaged. VOCAB IN THE NEWSNot in my backyarda fixed expression which means 'I think something should happen but I don't want it to happen near me' (here, people from Sicily and Sardinia want rubbish to be put somewhere but they don't want rubbish from Naples to be put on Sicily and Sardinia) trashunwanted things, rubbish or waste merchant shipboat which transports goods (rather than people as passengers) scrutinisedlooked at very carefully to landto unload things from a ship onto the ground cargo ships and freight trainsboats and trains which carry goods (rather than people as passengers) landfillsplaces where special services put people's waste and household rubbish which is then buried underground scufflesshort, minor (not very serous or violent) fights to hurl firebombsto throw bombs that cause destruction by starting a fire rather than exploding get out of handan idiom which means something can't be controlled any more Further reading on the topicARRESTS IN SARDINIA WASTE CLASHES Six protesters have been arrested in Sardinia after clashes with Italian police over tonnes of rubbish shipped to the island from Naples. About 1,000 protesters in Sardinia's capital, Cagliari, burned rubbish containers and threw stones at the police injuring eight on Friday night. Sardinia was the first area in Italy to offer to take on some of the 100,000 tonnes of waste festering in Naples. Protesters dumped rubbish bags outside the villa of the regional governor. Ignoring complaints from opposition politicians, Renatu Soru, said the rest of Italy had a duty to show solidarity with Naples. Mafia link Refuse collection in Naples ground to a halt before Christmas after dumps in the area were declared full. Local groups have cited health concerns in their campaign to block the reopening of old sites, and the building of new ones, around Naples. The campaign has often led to violent confrontations between police and protesters attempting to prevent the reopening of a dump in Pianura, on the outskirts of Naples. These clashes have prompted Italy's interior ministry to warn rapid-response police patrols would be called in to quell any further violence from what they call "hooligan gangs". Prime Minister Romano Prodi has given former national police chief Gianni De Gennaro four months to sort out the crisis. Critics argue the Campania region's waste problem stems from decades of corruption and political weakness, with the local government unable to end the Neapolitan Mafia's control of the waste disposal industry.
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