PIANURA, Italy, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Officials discussing a trash crisis in the Naples, Italy, area were escorted by police past protesters in the suburb of Pianura.
The officials were meeting Thursday at a closed refuse dump in the suburb that is expected to be prepared for reopening, to help store the estimated 100,000 tons of trash on the streets of Naples and its suburbs, ANSA reported Thursday. About 100 protesters outside the dump demonstrated against reopening the site.
The European Union has threatened action against Italy if the situation is not resolved.
The garbage crisis ''worries the Commission and it will monitor events closely in the coming weeks,'' a spokeswoman for EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said Thursday.
Pianura became a focal point for the crisis after the Italian government's special commissioner appointed to address the problem indicated that the Pianura site would be reopened.
The trash crisis arose after two saturated refuse storage sites were closed during the New Year's holiday. Authorities have yet to find sites for replacement landfills and treatment plants.
