Lefkimmi arson sets the council meeting alight – Vassilis Kavadias resigns
CORFU. Monday’s Town Council meeting was conducted in an atmosphere of high tension with attacks on the local authority coming from all sides and ending with the resignation of Deputy Mayor Vassilis Kavadias.
The arson at Lefkimmi landfill facility was the main topic of discussion, with all the parties condemning the incident whilst also placing blame on the local authority, which had promised in the pre-election period that Lefkimmi landfill would not become operational and in all the time it has been in power hasn’t made any progress towards solving the problem of waste management.
The Mayor spoke of mafia-style and gangster acts as well as claiming that the government and legal authorities had been unable to maintain order and safety in the area where there have been numerous cases of vandalism and it has always been a case of nobody seeing, hearing or knowing anything about it.
He also referred to the responsibility of the private security company, against whom the local authority will take legal action as – from what it seems – the facility remained unguarded for several hours, allowing not just one person, but a whole group of people to enter and burn down the buildings and equipment.
There was also strong reaction to the proposal the Mayor put forward to be put to the vote. The proposal condemned the illegal act and referred to ‘political instigators’ and ‘hired journalists’ who continuously undermined the operation of the Lefkimmi facility, which would have solved once and for all the waste management problem. These references angered members of all the political parties.
Tensions ran especially high when the two independent councillors, Nikos Gousis and Spyros Vlachos spoke out against the Mayor. Babis Haralambos, from the Laiki Syspeirosi party, put forward his own proposal to be put to the vote, followed by a third from Yiannis Kritikos.
The Deputy Mayor for Tourism, Vassilis Kavadias, called the text of the proposal divisive, which provoked the reaction of the Mayor, who challenged him to stand accountable for what he said. Vassilis Kavadias then said that he was ready to hand in his resignation.
The final result of the vote:
Mayor’s Proposal: 18
Yiannis Kritikos Proposal: 6
Laiki Syspeirosi Proposal: 3
