Naples, Italy  - Tensions remained high Saturday in a Naples suburb following overnight clashes between police and residents protesting the opening of a rubbish dump in the area.

Three Chiaiano residents, including a 83-year-old woman, injured when demonstrators scuffled with baton-wielding police were released from hospital, news reports said.

On Friday night police arrested three demonstrators involved in the clashes in Chiaiano where demonstrators had set up road barricades.

On Saturday morning several hundred residents continued their stand-off with authorities, with a protest march planned in the afternoon near a quarry the government has selected as a dump site.

The quarry, which lies between Chiaiano and Marano, a town north of Naples, is one of 10 dump sites identified by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's newly elected government to deal with the city's rubbish crisis.

Refuse has gone mostly uncollected in Naples since late December when all existing dump sites became full.

Illegal dumping organized by the local Camorra mafia, which holds a stake in the lucrative business of waste disposal, and officials' ineptitude have been blamed for the crisis. (dpa)