Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis (2nd from left) speaks to angry residents in Ambelokipi, central Athens, as municipal officials cleaned up a local site. A resident disputed City Hall’s ownership of the 30-hectare site and sued Kaklamanis, who sued back for verbal abuse.

Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis and a citizen yesterday sued each other following a dispute over the ownership a 30-hectare plot of land in central Athens.

The spat began after Kaklamanis and municipal officials visited the site of Koundouriotika, near the Panathinaikos soccer stadium in Ambelokipi, to clear it of garbage.

Giorgos Gioulis, who claims to have ownership rights to the site along with another 16 citizens, arrived at the site where he allegedly called Kaklamanis a “conman and land-grabber.” The two men subsequently visited the local police station where Gioulis sued Kaklamanis for allegedly “trespassing” on his land, while the mayor lodged a counter-suit for verbal abuse.

“The City of Athens has held the ownership titles to the Koundouriotika site since 1878,” Kaklamanis told Skai. “The municipality is determined not to grant even an inch of land to trespassers,” the mayor added.

Municipal officials symbolically planted a tree on the site yesterday.