Iran arrests protesters angry at giant waste landfill

Iranian police on Thursday arrested several stone-throwing protesters furious at the failure of the local authorities to close a gigantic waste landfill, state media reported.

Residents of the village of Saravan in Iran's northern Gilan province have been blocking the entrance to the garbage dump for more than two weeks, state broadcaster IRIB said.

Piles of stinking rubbish at the Saravan site now tower some 90 metres (295 feet) high, waste from the provincial capital Rasht and seven other cities, that has been dumped there for nearly four decades.

Protesters say the landfill is causing diseases and health problems, and demand the site be closed immediately. The landfill site is due to close next year.

"It is impossible to humiliate us", protesters chanted, before hurling stones at the security forces, IRIB reported. Five police officers were injured, Iran's Fars News agency said.

No details were given on the number of people arrested.

"Officials have been promising to solve this problem for years," IRIB added. "So far, none of their pledges have been fulfilled."

Javad Shafi'i, spokesman for Gilan province's waste management office, told IRIB that some $4 million had been allocated to tackle the site, including funding a "fertiliser and incinerator plant".

Poor waste management in Iran is causing environmental damage of around $1.7 billion annually, according to a report by Iranian daily Tehran Times.