Conflits des ordures : émeute à Keratea – 14-15 avril 2011

Violence spikes in Greek rebel town

Associated Press

By ELENA BECATOROS

Friday, April 15, 2011

As explosions boom, the town’s loudspeakers blare: « Attention! Attention! We are under attack! » Air raid sirens wail through the streets, mingling with the frantic clanging of church bells. Clouds of tear gas waft between houses as helmeted riot police move in to push back the rebels.

This isn’t a war zone, but a small town just outside Athens. And while its fight is about a garbage dump, it captures Greece’s angry mood over its devastated economy.

As unemployment rises and austerity bites ever harder, tempers seem to fray faster than ever these days in Greece, with citizens of all stripes increasingly thumbing their noses at authority. Some refuse to pay increased highway tolls and public transport tickets, and there has been a rise in politicians being heckled — even assaulted — by constituents.

The anger is most palpable in Keratea, a town of about 15,000 people some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Athens that appears to have spun completely out of control. The state’s attempt to start work on a planned garbage dump on a nearby hillside in December caused locals to set fire to construction vehicles and erect massive roadblocks on a highway that bypasses the town and runs to the capital.

It’s a fight that has galvanized the town, from the mayor and the local priest to shopkeepers, farmers, schoolteachers and teenagers.

« We live and breathe to finish our jobs for the day, to go to the blockades, to participate, to sacrifice ourselves in preventing the landfill from happening, » said Nikos Manolis, a local resident and bus owner.

Over the past four months, locals have developed increasingly inventive roadblocks to stop contractors from getting to the proposed dump site. They have parked trucks across the street and built piles of rubble and dirt. Apparently in it for the long haul, they have erected a wooden hut by the side of the road to serve as protest headquarters, complete with campaign posters, news clippings and children’s drawings of the riots.

Their latest move was a nighttime expedition to dig a shoulder-high trench across both lanes of the highway. That was one step too far for authorities, who on Thursday sent in road crews — protected by police — to repair the damage.

Within hours the confrontation had degenerated. Masked youths hurled firebombs and rocks at riot police who responded with rubber baton rounds and repeated volleys of tear gas. A police helicopter circled overhead.

« The town is out of control. Business activity has stopped, » said Yannis Adamis, a local resident and mechanical engineer. « The stores are closed. The sirens are blaring, the (church) bells are ringing, people are on the streets. This cannot continue. »

In nearby streets, gaggles of teenage girls, cut lemons held to their noses in a futile effort to ward off tear gas, mingled with young men in balaclavas stocking up on rocks to throw at police. An elderly man wielding a shepherd’s staff stormed past. Read more…