Councilors call for plan to tackle Exarchia malaise

The City of Athens council adopted a resolution on Thursday calling on the government to help draw up an action plan to tackle the increasing isolation of the Exarchia neighborhood in the city center.

The municipal councilors identified illegal street trading, squatting as well as the dealing and use of drugs as being among the key crimes threatening to make Exarchia a no-go area.

The resolution noted that public services and businesses are moving out of the neighborhood.

“In today’s Athens, we cannot allow there to be a neighborhood where residents are afraid,” it concluded.