Residents of three eastern Thessaloniki municipalities blockaded the Tagarades landfill site yesterday morning with tractors and garbage trucks, without indicating when they will allow access again. They are protesting at the delay of a court ruling on appeals against the construction of a new dump close to the village of Mavrorachi, some 40 kilometers north of the city and near the town of Langadas. The mayors of the three municipalities involved are due to meet with local authorities today to attempt to resolve the issue.

A fishing boat captain handed in to the Lavrion coast guard a bronze statue which he claims to have caught in his nets off Serifos on Thursday, the Merchant Marine Ministry said on Saturday. The statue, which weighs between 60 and 70 kilos and is 1.43 meters tall, is missing some limbs and has been passed on to archaeologists for inspection.

Archbishop Christodoulos’s press secretary yesterday sought to mollify Catholic officials over derogatory comments by the head of the Church of Greece. Christodoulos had accused Western Christians of using religion “as a vehicle to promote their positions” and claimed Europeans were “distancing themselves from the distortion of Christianity by a Church that wants to exercise power and to be rich.” His spokesman, Archmandrite Epifanios Economou, said that the archbishop was referring to the corrupting influence of power on all types of Christianity. He added that the archbishop was in favor of cooperation between churches. On October 8, senior Church of Greece bishops forced Christodoulos to cancel a proposed visit to the Vatican.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis yesterday pledged that the Culture Ministry, in cooperation with the Public Works Ministry, was devising a plan to protect the Vravrona archaeological site in eastern Attica from floods. The complex has suffered from flooding in the past, a problem which has been exacerbated recently by construction work in the area.

A man and woman were found dead in their car on Saturday morning after driving off a cliff some 100 meters high in the Gulf of Epidaurus, west of Athens, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. The car was found submerged in 1-meter-deep waters by the coast guard, who freed the driver and passenger from the vehicle. They were both pronounced dead at Nafplion Hospital.