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Victoria Mindova

Much of a talk and little action the Athens Mayor George Kaminis has taken, who promised to take up the clearing of Syntagma Square in front of the Parliament on Monday. The ruins after the clashes on June 28 and 29 combined with the urban camping of the movement of the discontented changed the appearance of the city centre. George Kaminis said that the Hall would begin the restoration works on Monday by replacing the broken marble on the streets and around the subway station near Syntagma first.

GRReporter was on the spot where we expected to see strong activity. It was a deep disappointment to find only two municipal workers who smoked cigarettes in the shade. About ten broken tiles along the pedestrian part of the square were filled with cement and one worker was watering the lawns down the square to Finelinon Avenue, on which the clashes left only soil, but no grass. Apparently bored by his work, the municipal worker was watering the surrounding trees, paying no particular attention to passers-by and indignant tourists were running to the traffic lights, trying to avoid the streams of muddy water.

"Many promises, but little is done," said for GRReporter a Greek journalist who wished to remain anonymous. She stated that the Mayor's promises are for the cameras and the publications. Actually, very little is expected to be done to restore the usual appearance of the square in front of the Parliament.

The area around Syntagma is of key importance for the social and political life of the capital, because within two square kilometers it also includes the National Assembly, the Ministry of Finance, and several commercial and industrial chambers. Trade unions, the city garden, about ten of the most popular hotels in Athens, the head offices of several Greek banks as well as one of the oldest outdoor shopping centres on Ermou Street are also located there.

Meanwhile, it became clear during the Sunday meeting of the discontented that the protesters have no intention to leave Syntagma. Although the protests outside the National Assembly are scarce and no more than 500 people take part in them in the evenings, the discontented will stay on the square, planning their actions after the summer holidays. They already warned that they will be at the International Fair in Thessaloniki in September. The political and business elite of Greece meet there each year, setting the tone for the song about the changes that will follow in winter.

The statement of George Kaminis as if justifies the inability of the Mayor's office to restore the usual activity of the city centre. "The municipality has no right to arrest anyone or to exercise any other power. The only thing it could do is ask the discontented to leave voluntarily." The mayor of Athens insists on changes in the law so that the police not to allow fifty people to paralyze the main roads, but stresses that he does not have in mind the movement of the discontented, but speaks in general.

While the Mayor is playing with words, there is recent information that Kaminis would ask the police to help him clear the camp from the square. "The municipality would like the police to assure it that they would help when it comes to such an operation in order not to get to clashes again," the Mayor told for Sky.