A furious protester hurled pizza over the gates of New York City Hall amid anger over the state's ban on wood-burning ovens.

Scott Lobaido demonstrated following new rules from the city's Department of Environmental Protection that would order eateries using the decades-old baking method to slice carbon emissions by up to 75 percent.

The diktat would particularly hurt family-run Italian restaurants that have been trading in the Big Apple for decades.

Footage shows Scott opening a box of New York-style pizza outside the gates of the compound and tossing the cheesy slices one by one. Two security guards asked him to stop when he was about to throw a third box. He said in the video: "Give us pizza, or give us death".

Local media reported that pizzerias with such wood-burning installed before May 2016 would have to buy pricey emission-control devices.

Paul Giannone, the owner of Paulie Gee's in Greenpoint, said he has paid 20,000 USD for a new air filter system to comply with the law.

DEP spokesman Ted Timbers defended the measures.

He said: "All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighborhoods with poor air quality.

"This common-sense rule, developed with restaurant and environmental justice groups, requires a professional review of whether installing emission controls is feasible".

A furious protester hurled pizza over the gates of New York City Hall amid anger over the state's ban on wood-burning ovens.

Scott Lobaido demonstrated following new rules from the city's Department of Environmental Protection that would order eateries using the decades-old baking method to slice carbon emissions by up to 75 per cent.

The diktat would particularly hurt family-run Italian restaurants that have been trading in the Big Apple for decades.

Footage shows Scott opening a box of New York-style pizza outside the gates of the compound and tossed the cheesy slices one by one. Two security guards asked him to stop when he was about to throw a third box. He said in the video: ‘Give us pizza, or give us death.'

Local media reported that pizzerias with such wood-burning installed before May 2016 would have to buy pricey emission-control devices.

Paul Giannone, the owner of Paulie Gee's in Greenpoint, said he has paid 20,000 USD for a new air filter system to comply with the law.

DEP spokesman Ted Timbers defended the measures.

He said: 'All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighborhoods with poor air quality.

'This common-sense rule, developed with restaurant and environmental justice groups, requires a professional review of whether installing emission controls is feasible.'