NAPLES, ITALY, HAS MORE THAN 50,000 TONS OF TRASH and garbage bags laying uncollected in the streets throughout the region.  And the people have had enough of the government’s failure to collect it. 

Now they are dragging the waste into piles in the streets and setting them afire.  There were more than 80 such fires last night and in some cases, when the fire engines showed up to put them out, the FF’s were pelted with rocks and paving stones to drive them away.

AP

The crises began when local landfills (dumps) had to close because they are full.  The courts prevented any new dumps from being created and also wouldn’t allow older ones to be re-opened.

The government has been spending millions to have rubbish hauled away and shipped to other places in Europe for disposal, but the contracts were given to the (non-existant) Mafia and none of the money was spent on trash removal.  The landfills are mostly owned by the (non-existant) Mafia also, but the only trash they allow into them are imports from other countries that pay them a high price for disposal.

Reuters

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is considering bringing in the army (again) to clear up the mess and quell the demonstrations.  This past January the army removed the mountains of rubbish, but the problem remains.  All this current trash accumulation is just from the last three months.

This video was taken back in January:

The AFP has a more detailed report HERE.

Last month AFP did this video report on the renewed problem:

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