Debate in parliament began on the 29th of May about the Athens – Attica Regulatory Plan which was submitted by the Environment Ministry. The draft legislation aims to provide a broad scheme for development and planning in the Attica region over the coming years.
For many of the residents of the municipality of Nea Philadadelphia however it poses an existential threat to their largely residential area by allowing the zoning of commercial areas and other uses. A particular point of contention is that the plan allows for portions of the municipality’s prized forested land to be sacrificed for the construction of a new football stadium and sporting grounds for the AEK football club, owned by tycoon Dimitris Melissanidis. According to those protesting the plan it amounts to a giveaway of precious public lands to business interests.
Friction over the issue has threatened to turn violent. On the 29th of May a meeting of local residents opposed to the scheme was disrupted by a group of young men behaving highly aggressively. According to reports the hooligans broke up the meeting shouting personal threats at those assembled such as ‘we will f**k your mothers and sisters,’ and ‘we know where you live.’ They also threatened to set fire to the forest.
Several days later according to 'Kontra', one of the attendees at the meeting found a note on his car reading, “so you have a daughter, eh? / AEK’ The note was folded around a live bullet.
The new stadium will be built largely on the site of the old ground used by the club which it abandoned in 2003. That area covers 26,600 square meters of public land given to the club in 1934. The new development plan will add 6,000 square meters of forested land to the club’s holdings for the construction of the new stadium, and opens the way for for the development of additional sporting grounds on another 23,000 square meters of parkland (5% of the total forested area).
Critics of the scheme include the newly elected mayor of Nea Philadelphia Aris Vasilopoulos (who will take office on the 1st of September). In a statement released today, ‘Dynami Politon’ (the local political group to which the mayor-elect belongs) wrote of the plan, “the main goal is not the construction of a new stadium for AEK, but to render the [Nea Philadelphia] forest prey to large business interests in the framework of its general sell off of forests and coastal regions.” According to the statement the new development plan would ultimately pave the way for the privatization of the entirety of 480,000 square meters of forest in the area.
Dynami Politon stress that they are not opposed to the stadium as such stating that they would work with AEK to ‘find solutions’ to achieve its construction, which was the ‘dream of AEK’s fans and our own goal.’ According to the group the government was seeking to sow divisions between residents and AEK fans to further its goals and urged residents not to fall into the trap of ‘divide and conquer’.