The arrests in the rural area of Keratea on Wednesday involved five Greeks and two Albanians aged 16 to 28, with police confiscating two flare guns.

"Police forces supervising order in the area came under attack with flares and firebombs from groups of people who oppose the construction of the waste landfill," the police said in a statement.

The residents of Keratea have long opposed the creation of the landfill, which was earmarked for the area nearly a decade ago, arguing that the local environment will be irreversibly degraded.

They also claim that the project will endanger a ruined ancient fort that some archaeologists say was likely built by slaves during a revolt against the Romans in the second century BC.

Prehistoric obsidian and ancient pottery have also been found in the area. But Greece's top administrative court has turned down appeals to stop the state-sponsored project, which is part of a government strategy to reduce strain on other overstretched waste disposal sites near Athens.

The country has few organised waste disposal facilities and recycling efforts have only recently begun in earnest.

For decades, garbage was dumped in ravines and other available areas, costing Greece large fines from the European Commission for serious environmental neglect.

Scores of such dumps are still operational around the country and the Greek state currently faces an EU fine of 200,000 euros (267,000 dollars) per day for each of them, the government said this week.

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