Symi protests: Mayor
to close Municipality?

The Mayor of Symi, Mr Lefteris Papakalodoukas, is "prepared to close the Municipality and hand the
keys to the Prime Minister" to protest over the ferry situation and the lack of a direct connection with Pireaus.

In comments made to the "Proodos" newspaper, Mr Papakalodoukas went further to say that if there is no solution to the problem, "government ministers and MPs will not be welcome on Symi anymore". He added: "Symi is one of the very few Dodekanese islands that has no ferry connection with Pireaus". This, he said "didn't even happen during the occupation! We've always had at least one service (a week) with the biggest port in Greece".

Since last November, Symi has had no ferry link with Pireaus as GA Ferries dropped Symi from its route. However, everyone was hopeful that a solution would be found when Blue Star ferry Diagoras came to Symi on a trial trip last December. "We saw the boat coming and docking at the port without any difficulty and we were certain that the (new) route (from Pireaus to Rhodes via Symi) would start without any problems".

Those hopes, however, were not realised as it was decided that Diagoras would not be stopping at Symi. Yesterday, Mr Mihalis Sakelis, the Managing Director of Blue Star Ferries, issued a statement claiming that Diagoras had difficulty entering the Symi harbour. "For this reason we have decided that the boat cannot approach Symi as the harbour is small", said Mr Sakelis. Blue Star Ferries have also announced that the company is prepared to cover the cost for the transporation of Symi residents from Rhodes to Symi.

However, the Municipality of Symi appears to have rejected the plan. "We believe that what the company says are excuses. The company's bosses simply didn't want to cause a delay to the itinerary (by diverting to come to Symi) and have therefore excluded Symi from the route", said the Mayor adding that this situation will never be accepted and the people of Symi will react angrily if no solution is found.