‘Children have right to breathe clean air’

Demonstrators in Mitsero demanded the immediate termination of works for the relocation of an asphalt plant to their region on Sunday.

The group Communities in Action was to protest the move of the plant after it was shut down in, demanding the immediate termination of the works for the relocation of the asphalt plant in Mitsero.

The protest by residents of eight affected communities took place on the Ayios Ioannis to Kato Moni road, where the works to establish the plant have already begun.

Hundreds of protesters called for an immediate end to the works, citing public health reasons, but also the need to ensure the right of children in the area to grow up in a safe environment and breathe clean air.

“We are facing the scandalous indifference of the state to the health of 15,000 inhabitants,” Kato Moni community leader Marios Makriyiannis said.

“It is not enough that our area is full of all kinds of dirt that makes our lives unbearable, they have the audacity to move the asphalt plant to an area where they think second-class citizens live,” he continued.

“It is a political and social issue that highlights the inability to properly design industrial and livestock zones”.

Former Ecologists MP George Perdikis said that the people of the area had been fighting for six years and as there are already eight asphalt plants in operation another one is not needed.

Protestors held banners that read ‘We claim our rights to clean air’ and ‘We must safeguard the future of our children’.

The group called on the competent authorities to reconsider the decision to relocate the facility and said government that promises must be kept and not forgotten after the elections.

On Friday students in the Mitsero area staged a walkout during the first two periods of school to protest plans to relocate an asphalt plant to the community.