Cyprus Mail 15 February 2020 - article by Evie Andreou
Some of the trees that have been cut down (Photo: Greens Party)
A group of Paphos residents are organising a protest on Monday over the felling of very old trees in a park in the centre of town, with the Greens arguing that the municipality did not get permission from the forestry department before chopping them down.
The Greens said this week that the Paphos municipality felled 10 palm trees and some citrus trees at the Ivi Maliotou park.
The party said it was the fourth time it had reported the municipality for cutting down trees close to or over a hundred years old without securing the necessary permits.
It also claimed that the Paphos mayor’s claims that the municipality had secured forestry department permission was untrue.
According to the party, the forestry department will report the municipality for felling the trees without their permission.
The head of the Paphos Salvation Movement and municipal councillor Michalis Hadjimitsis said on Saturday that the Ivi Maliotou park was one of the most central green areas of Paphos and accused the local authority of carrying out “unnecessary and destructive interventions”.
“On the one hand, the tendency to deplete Paphos of all greenery and on the other, the municipal authority’s policy of ignoring the municipal council create unnecessary controversy,” he said in a written statement. Ignoring the city council was “an undemocratic method of policy-making”.
Hadjimitsis said he backs the protest, that is to take place outside the Paphos town hall and called on residents to attend.
The protest is to take place on Monday at 6pm.
