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The Keratea village located about 50 km away from Athens once again became a battleground last night. Four police officers were injured and one of the participants was captured during the clashes between the residents who oppose the construction of a landfill in the area and the police.
 
It all started because the central road that leads to Lavrio was blocked with construction materials on Monday. The traffic had to take roundabout roads throughout the day, and no authority took the initiative to clear out the boulevard. The Mayor of Lavreotiki Konstantinos Levantis, who is a member of the co-coordinating committee against the landfill, said that the road maintenance is not within the competence of the local authorities but within the Ministry of Infrastructure’s responsibilities.

The yesterday's events that were more like shots of military operations began yesterday afternoon. The church bells and the sirens of Lavreotiki town hall echoed at 15:00 and invited the citizens of Keratea to gather on the bridge to Kouvaras. The clashes between the hundreds of residents and the riot-forces lasted for hours. The occasion was the appearance of an excavator, which - in the presence of a prosecutor and strong police guard - had to clean the road of the building materials the residents had put there. The boulevard was cleared off by the evening and the traffic got to its normal.  
 
In the past two days residents built two new barricades due to the rumours that the contracting company intends to bring construction equipment on site. According to the police, in the early hours of yesterday unknown persons threw Molotov bombs at a bulldozer that was supposed to clear the construction materials from the road. Before setting the machine on fire they told the driver to get off.

Three hours later, the tension moved to the blockade near Toriko outside Lavrio. Three riot police squads sprayed tear gas against 40 protesters during their shift. Some residents blamed the police for unreasonable assault, for damaging their vehicles and injuring a young man. The police, in turn, claimed that the officers responded to a Molotov bomb thrown against them.

A member of the coordination committee against the landfill confirmed for GRReporter the decision of the residents not to give up. "There are residents at the two blockades around Keratea. The situation is calm now, but our resistance will continue. We wished the government happy Easter holidays and nice summer vacation still in December," he said and expressed their intentions definitely.  

At the same time, Vima newspaper reported that according to a secret police report, the serious clashes with the police involved hunters, members of the special forces, former policemen and Albanian citizens.

Those in charge of the operations are working on a new special plan, which provides police response to attacks with explosives carrying airplanes operated with remote controls as well as against missile attacks from the surrounding hills. They fear that police buses could become the target of remote controlled bomb or of Kalashnikov fire. One of the measures offered by the senior police officers is all police stations in the region of Keratea to be closed. They believe that the peaceful residents who support the presence of police in the region will put pressure on the local administration, which fully supports the striking actions. According to some sources, there are 15 - 20 arrest warrants for some people, which the police believe were involved in the attacks against them.

The plan on resolving the crisis in Keratea is of the most important ones, which have been made in recent years. The police believe that the clashes will increase. There are also fears of a possible attack by an armed group against the officers or the equipment of the construction company deployed at the landfill site. According to some sources, those fears are exaggerated.

The confidential report dated February 18, 2011 says that "not only residents of the area took part in the clashes but also groups of anarchists and Albanians as well as a core of the committee of hunters and former members of special forces. This is evident from their actions." One of the main issues mentioned in the document is "the access to confidential information that people have on all actions of the police, shifts, equipment, number of members of the squads and so on. " The officers attach these "leaks" to one active and two retired police officers operating in the area.

The government, in turn, has decided not to allow Keratea the resistance of which lasts four months already to become the Greek Naples. According to the Minister of the Interior Yannis Ragousis, a system for decomposition of pre-separated organic waste will operate in the landfill, recyclable waste separation plant, processing plant and there will be a place for hygienic burial of waste.
 
Local authorities, however, continue to refuse "to take all the waste of southeast Attica. We are ready to discuss and agree on the construction of a modern processing plant for the waste of Lavreotiki and Saronikou municipalities on part of the industrial park in Keratea, which will be provided by the City Hall."

Circles close to the Ministry of the Interior defined the proposal as "ridiculous" and stressed that the making of an organized terrain would lead to delays of 5-7 years.