European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will discuss the waste management issue in Naples with Italian Prime Minister Prodi while the two attend the euro adoption celebrations in Malta, Reuters has reported. The issue took a new twist today when six protesters were arrested in Sardinia after a second night of clashes with Italian police over tonnes of trash that were shipped to the Mediterranean island from Naples to ease a garbage crisis there.

Around 1,000 protesters in Cagliari, Sardinia's capital, burned garbage containers, threw rocks at police and dumped trash bags outside the villa of regional governor Renato Soru, whom they criticise for agreeing to take a share of Naples' waste.

Mr Prodi (picture), speaking in Malta today, said everybody had a duty to show solidarity to Naples, saying he thought "very badly" of the protesters.

"The government cannot tolerate that this problem remains unsolved," he told reporters, saying everyone had a duty of solidarity towards Naples. "This emergency is a shame for the whole of Italy."

Sardinia, a popular holiday destination, was the first region to heed a call from Mr Prodi for Italian local authorities to help ease the crisis in and around Naples, where 140,000 tonnes of rotting garbage piled up in the streets after all dumps filled up.

The first shipments of trash arrived late on Thursday, sparking scuffles between locals and police.

The Naples crisis is an embarrassment for Mr Prodi and his centre-left coalition, which runs the city and the surrounding Campania region.

Mr Barroso said he will discuss the situation with Prodi later today. The EU is closely following the dispute and an official said Brussels could speed up legal proceedings it has already launched against Rome over waste management if there is no quick improvement.