About 5,000 miners and their families dressed in their high visibility jackets arrived in Athens on Thursday morning, in order to demonstrate in favor of the continuation of the controversial mining operation in the Halkidiki.
The miners, who have clashed in recent times with local residents opposing the mining operation, stressed that their jobs and growth for the area were at steak, while demanding that the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras provides a solution to deadlock. Many of the protesters who arrived in the Greek capital intend to stick around, in order to protest and claim a solution to their problem.
Should the mining operations be suspended, thousands could be left without a job. With the Greek economy seemingly unable to overcome the crisis, the prospect of unemployment has frightened a section of residents in Halkidiki.
Recently the Ministry of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy withdrew permits for the mining operations in Skouries, amid environmental concerns. The employee union president of Agia Varvara Giorgos Hatzis told To Vima that 40 employees have been laid off, while a further 350 recruitments were postponed after the permits were repealed.
In response, the Ministry has stressed that “no employee will be laid off” and countered that the mining jobs were “being threatened by the Eldorado Gold multinational, which occasionally pretends to be their benefactor”. The Ministry claims that Eldorado Gold, which operates the operation in Skouries, is using the employee struggle as a “shield” for its “speculative pursuits”.
Furthermore, the Ministry stresses that the permits were repealed due to “unacceptable practices” and concerns over the company’s “illegal, arbitrary and anti-environmental attitudes” which threaten the livelihood of all of the people in Halkidiki. It concludes its statement by underlining that the protection of the environment and public interest are paramount.
