Prosecutor to probe ‘Indignants’
Athens Court of First Instance Prosecutor Eleni Raikou on Thursday launched an investigation into the proliferation of tents and banners in central Syntagma Square, in front of Parliament, where scores of self-professed ?Indignant? protesters have been camping for months.
Raikou is to seek to determine whether any individuals should be charged with instigating and perpetuating the anti-austerity protest, which until recently had been causing serious congestion and has been broadly condemned for constituting an eyesore in the heart of the capital in the middle of the tourist season.
Earlier this month Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis said he would ask the police to help the municipality’s effort to remove protesters from Syntagma Square.
Kaminis was speaking following a meeting with shop owners and labor group officials focused on restoring the capital’s tainted image. Successive demonstrations, some of them violent, have caused extensive damage and kept tourists and consumers away from the city center.
?Camping in a public space is not a constitutional right,? Kaminis remarked.
