Winds fanned dozens of fires in Greece, but the real culprits behind many of the blazes were believed to be arsonists working for property developers. Athens was ringed by fires, forcing the evacuation of children’s summer camps and a village near Corinth.
Several hundred acres of woodland have been burnt in the hills in the past week and three firemen died in one fire.
The Kathimerini newspaper called the fires “an ecological crime without punishment”. It referred to data from the European Central Bank showing that corruption in Greece – including bribes to officials by land-hungry property developers – cost the country €15 billion (£10 billion) a year. There have been two million applications to declassify forest land for building and commercial development and some of those who are turned down simply hire arsonists to clear the land and then bribe officials to look the other way. “People don’t think twice about turning farmland or public land into building plots,” Kathimerini said. “The powers that be, meanwhile, do nothing.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/weather/article2141168.ece
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