Acropolis wheelchair lift fiasco leads to resignations

The Culture Ministry on Friday said it asked for the resignations of two officials it considered responsible for the months of delays in the restoration of a platform lift for disabled persons at the Acropolis Hill.

The leadership of the ministry said in a statement it asked the head of the Athens Ephorate and the head of the Department of Archaeological Research and Studies to step down, adding it had worked for months to make the old lift operational.

“Yet the response to this incident led us to demand the resignations, due to delays and a series of mistakes in managing the country's top monument,” the ministry said, adding it is examining the construction of a new lift for disabled access.

The move came after the parents association of a primary school in Nea Redestos, a village south of Thessaloniki, published a letter of complaint in which it revealed that teachers had to carry a disabled student in their hands so he could visit the ancient monument.

The association said in a post on social media that their school visited the Acropolis Hill on March 30 and was told that the lift was not working. It also said a girl from a visiting French school also had to be carried in her teacher's hands to reach the top of the rock.

The ministry published earlier another press release in which it apologized to the school and said the lift is now working.