GREECE: Villagers furious at government response to fires in Greece
- 00:00:55
- ITN Source
GREECE: Villagers furious at government response to fires in Greece
East of Peloponese Greek fire rage as wind picks up. Villagers are furious at government response to the devastation. As fires died down in the Plutochori area on Wednesday (August 29) others continued to rage further east of the Peloponese in and around villages of Matesi, Thisoa and Ano Kotili. Firefighters have been battling the flames in this area for three days now locals say with the help of a Cypriot team which came as the blaze began. Thick plumes of smoke could be seen from far ahead and moved rapidly across the valley as the wind picked up and changed direction threatening several villages along the way. Greeks are dismayed and angry about the scale of devastation and thousands were expected to attend a protest rally in Athens later on Wednesday, dressed in black. Blazes that had trapped villagers in parts of the southerly Peloponnese peninsula were coming under control but firefighters were still battling fires on the island of Via and near the northern cities of Florina and Kavala. Police have evacuated the women and children of the town but many of the men will not go. One resident of Ano Kotili, Vassilis Michalopoulos, said he would not abandon his home. He also blamed the fires on criminals. "The police told us to leave and we said "no we are not leaving. We want to stay at our homes. This is in our blood. I don't know, I will burn," Michalopoulos said. The road into Ano Kotilio was blocked off in the evening for safety reasons. The area all around has already been devastated by the fires and was blackened with ash over several kilometres.
ITN Source | August 30, 2007
