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Athens (AFP) April 18, 2011 Greek Police on Monday agreed an Easter break with residents of a rural town near Athens who have violently opposed creation of a landfill in the area for months. The truce, brokered by a local bishop, will enable the government to scale back a major police operation in the area since December, estimated to have cost hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars). In turn, the residents of Keratea pledged to remove roadblocks from the highway to Lavrio, a port near Athens that services several Aegean islands. "Today is the start of the Easter period, a time when logic, calm and the restoration of order must prevail," said Christos Papoutsis, the minister in charge of the police. "Riot police will leave...after the residents abandon the roadblocks," he told reporters after the meeting. The Keratea residents oppose the landfill, which was earmarked for the area nearly a decade ago, despite a series of court rulings against their cause. The locals argue that the landfill will irreversibly degrade the local environment in an area that has suffered enough from decades of mining activity and the operation of a nearby oil-fired electricity plant. Riot police were sent to the area late last year to protect the project's construction machinery from arson assaults and vandalism. The violence soon escalated with protesters attacking with stones and firebombs and the police retaliating with tear gas and baton charges on a near-daily basis in pitched battles occasionally fought inside the town. Last week, the home of a local police station commander was attacked with firebombs that destroyed three cars parked outside and the protesters carved a 1.5-metre (four-foot) trench across the embattled highway. Over 200 police were stationed in the area on a daily basis in an operation that cost the state over a million euros ($1.45 million), Ta Nea daily said. "The situation had to be defused," said local mayor Constantine Levantis. "We are just ahead of Easter and people should go home and calm down," he added. The locals are to hold talks with the environment minister next week to find a solution to the deadlock, with Keratea officials planning to propose an alternative location for the garbage facility, Levantis said.
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Waste disposal dispute turns ugly in GreeceAthens (AFP) April 16, 2011 A four-month battle over waste disposal in Athens turned ugly this week with a firebomb assault on a police commander's home and renewed violence over a disputed landfill project near the capital. Battle lines were literally drawn near the rural town of Keratea where residents opposing the waste disposal project dug a trench on a highway that has seen countless clashes with riot police sin ... read more |
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