Residents of Grammatiko, in northeastern Attica, where the government is planning to build a much-needed second landfill for the prefecture, yesterday pelted riot police with stones outside the site slated for the facility, angered by a decision by an Athens prosecutor to approve the project.

The residents, who fought running battles with police at the site on Tuesday, had lodged an appeal against the launch of the works. Protesters have the backing of local authorities, who claim that the contractor entrusted with building the landfill lacks a valid permit. But bulldozers belonging to the contractor remained on the outskirts of the site late yesterday.

Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, who is under pressure to implement waste-management solutions for Attica by a European Commission deadline next Thursday, insisted yesterday that the government “will not, under any circumstances, allow the country to be shown up on the international stage.”