Residents of the most densely populated area of Greece – the Athenian neighborhood of Kypseli – have collected more than 4,000 signatures for a petition to stop the City of Athens from building an underground parking lot on the site of a local park.

The campaigners in Kypseli have also been planting trees in the park, on the corner of Patission and Kyprou streets, which has 44 trees that are more than 100 years old.

Work on the site was due to begin in March but the forestry service has so far refused to grant permission for the trees to be cut down.

“There are already six private parking lots in the area and they are half-empty at night because people cannot afford to pay 150 euros a month,” Marina Vichou, a spokesman for the group of residents, told Kathimerini.

“The only thing that this new parking lot will achieve is to create more pollution and traffic in our neighborhood.”

There are only 2 square meters of green space for each Kypseli resident. Local campaigners have said that they are ready to take their case to the Council of State.