In Brief
FACTORY FIRE
‘Remove pesticides,’ Greenpeace says Greenpeace’s Greek branch yesterday demanded the removal of all toxic substances from a disused former pesticides factory in western Thessaloniki after a large fire broke out there on Saturday, burning some of the 200 tons of pesticides stored on the site. The environmental pressure group has been warning of the fire risk at the Diana factory since 1999. It was unclear yesterday whether the blaze had polluted the atmosphere with toxic gas. The government has been sending shipments of the pesticides to Germany for destruction over the past two years, with the most recent shipment sent last August. Rhodes quake A strong undersea quake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, struck the seabed between the southern Aegean islands of Rhodes and Karpathos shortly after 11 p.m. on Saturday. There were no reports of damage or injuries though the quake caused alarm among locals. Anti-Olympic demo A group of around 70 anarchists and anti-globalization activists staged a demonstration in central Omonia Sq on Saturday, handing fliers to pedestrians in an effort to raise awareness about the tight security planned for the Olympic Games, The Associated Press reported. The protest chiefly focused on the hundreds of surveillance cameras being set up around Athens ahead of the August 13-29 Games, AP said. Road disruptions Drivers returning to the capital on the Athens-Corinth national road yesterday evening suffered disruptions near Kakia Skala due to works to resurface the road. Also yesterday, traffic police said that, due to work to clear up Friday’s landslide on Katehaki Avenue, Mesogeion-bound traffic will be disrupted for the next two weeks.
