March on Saturday to protest Akamas inaction

Eight NGOs will organise a protest march this Saturday in Paphos following recent arson attacks in the Akamas, urging relevant authorities to take the necessary steps to protect the area.

According to the organisers, over the last three years about 80 malicious fires have been recorded in and around the Akamas peninsula while no criminal persecution has taken place.

The most recent fires on November 13 destroyed 70 hectares of pine trees, bushes and vegetation and “showed once again the need to modernise firefighting means and increase surveillance using modern ways such as Geographic Information Systems and telemetry,” organisers said.

Demonstrators will gather in Kennedy Square at 11am and march to the Paphos District Office.

Under the slogan Akamas Concerns All Of Us, they demand that the state carry out in depth investigations to find the culprits, to restore the ecology of the area and to implement a management plan for the Akamas National Forest Park.

“The ecological value of the Akamas Peninsula goes beyond the narrow geographical boundaries of our island,” their announcement said “as it is an area of remarkable biodiversity at a European level.”

NGOs explained that they will not sit around and do nothing, watching Akamas, an environmental treasure of the island, being destroyed by humans.

Organisers of the protest include: Chlorakas Cultural Environmental Club, 100,000 Trees in Paphos, Paphos Letters and Arts Home, Ecological Movement of Cyprus, COAST (AKTI), Initiative Team to Save Paphos Public Garden, Free Thought Paphos and Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts (EKATE).

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