Demolition of burned homes in Mati begins

Demolition work got under way on Monday on houses burned in last month’s disastrous wildfire in Mati, eastern Attica. Efforts focused on structures that suffered such damage in the blaze so as to be deemed dangerous, not on the thousands of illegally built structures that the government pledged to knock down in the wake of the fires. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reiterated his government’s resolve to raze 3,200 structures built illegally on forestland or coastal areas for which final judicial decisions have been issued. [Alexandros Vlachos/ANA-MPA]