The start of construction to extend Glafkos Clerides Avenue towards Dimitris Christofias Avenue has triggered opposition from residents and environmental organisations, as the project cuts through the Athalassa and Academy state forests that comprise Nicosia’s largest green lung.
The Movement of Ecologists – Citizens’ Cooperation stated in an announcement that residents and environmental groups describe the plan as an outdated 40-year-old design. They argue the road construction will cause irreparable environmental damage without providing genuine traffic solutions.
Critics call road project environmental regression
Elena Lymbouri Kozakou, spokesperson for the Movement of Ecologists, stated that development without environmental respect is not progress, but regression, calling on citizens to react. She said citizens cannot remain spectators to the destruction of the city’s last major green space, adding that development without environmental respect is not progress but regression. She called on every citizen to raise a voice of resistance, stating that Nicosia’s future is not built on uprooted trees.
Peaceful protest planned for Saturday 11 October
A peaceful protest is scheduled for Saturday 11 October at 4:30pm outside the Agricultural Research Institute, aimed at protecting Athalassa forest. Organisers call on every citizen to raise a voice of resistance against what they describe as the cementing of the city’s last major green space.
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