Wildfires threaten Greek capital (land-grab arsonists)

[Hannah Bell]

Just two year after the forest fires of the summer of 2007, which devastated large tracts of land in Greece leaving nearly 70 dead, the country is once again suffering a series of wildfires concentrated in the north of the country and threatening the capital city, Athens.

The blazes began on Friday night in the Grammatiko region and spread quickly, fanned by high winds and continuing high temperatures. Over the weekend, the initial fire spread to the region of Mount Pendeli, burning down a number of properties.

In the meantime, the fire front has extended into the Athenian suburbs...The flames...reaching hundreds of metres into the sky, could clearly be seen from the centre of Athens...

Meanwhile, the mayor of Anixi, one of the suburbs in Athens affected by the fires, admitted to the Guardian newspaper that the authorities were utterly unprepared for the fires: “...There is no coordination between the police, firefighters or local authorities. It’s chaos.”

Nikitopoulos also made clear that, in his opinion, most of the blazes in the region over the weekend were likely the work of arsonists determined to clear land for developers.

In 2007, it emerged that property speculators were behind many of the fires that raged through large parts of the country. Greek law prevents forested areas from development. On a host of occasions in the recent past, however, it has been proven that speculators burnt down woodland in order to be able to bid for the scorched land for redevelopment.

For the past two years, the environmental organisation World Wildlife Fund has been demanding that the Greek government introduce a stop to all building on land destroyed by forest fires. According to the WWF forestlands expert Nina Griesshammer on Monday, “Greece had learnt nothing from the catastrophic summer of 2007...the current fires were just a question of time.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/fire-a25.shtml


I spent quite a bit of time in greece in the 80s - very low-budget. Some of the places I traveled through then have been developed into tourist hellholes since, judging from photos. Rocks with mega-hotels. Makes me sad.

[Selatius]

1. Arson capitalism. I guess they call it "the march of progress" rather than theft and vandalism.

Because the forests are there to be enjoyed by all.

[angstlessk]

2. don't forget murder...70 people died, so I guess the perpetrators were charged

with murder? If not why not?

[Hannah Bell]

4. all i get on google is suspects detained in the wake of the 2007 fires. don't get info

on trials or proecutions.

[Blue_Tires]

3. kick

[Blue_Tires]

5. ttt