The romantic Isle of Capri all but shut down on Thursday as islanders staged a protest over cuts in ferry service by the Caremar shipping line. The protest began at 8.30am when shops, bars and all commercial activity in the port of Marina Grande, the central town of Capri and its mountain neighbor Anacapri closed.
At the same time, a string of some 60 fishing and tour boats blockaded the island's only commercial port and refused to let in arriving ferries and hydrofoils. This resulted in a traffic jam of trucks and cars on the port's main piers which created havoc even for pedestrian traffic
The action was organised by the head of Capri's hotel operators' association, Sergio Gargiulo, with the active support of the mayors of Capri and Anacapri, Ciro Lembo and Mario Staiano respectively.
By noon, the blockade of the port had succeeded in sending back to Naples a Caremar mega-ferry and at least eight hydrofoils.
Two ferries arriving from Salerno also had to turn back with almost 200 tourists aboard. In a rally staged in Marina Grande, Lembo and Staiano spoke out against what they defined as Caremar's private monopoly on ferry service to and from the island and the inadequacy of its service in general.
The majors urged the region of Campania to intervene by blocking Caremar's operating license unless it reinstated the recently cancelled evening ferry. The protest has been staged at a critical time for the island with the arrival of thousands of tourists and
part-time residents for the Easter holiday.
Organisers said this was the first in a series of actions aimed at drawing attention to a number of pressing problems on the island, including the condition of the local hospital and road traffic.
