The quarrying in Pentadaktylos Mountains is affecting the people in surrounding villages as well as the ecosystem.
People of Sirinevler(Άγιος Ερμόλαος) and Akcicek (Σύσκληπος) villages staged a demostration last week on Saturday, 11:00 am to protest the problems caused by the quarries in the area. They met in the village center and marched the route leading to the quarries.
The movement started after the talks about a renewal permit which is planned to be given to a quarry whose permit has already expired, is continuing and growing day by day together with the solidarity of people living outside the area.
During the march, the people carried banners with messages like “Stop ruining the mountains, our villages and our lives” and they shouted slogans: “No to quarries!”
Melahat Erten who read the press statement written by the Sirinevler-Akcicek Organisation Committee, mentioned a lot of nuisance caused by the quarries.
“We are under an invasion of heavy vehicles”
Erten said that it has been years that the locals are dealing with numerous problems. She emphasised that the quarries are causing clouds of dust, damaging the roads and the explosions are even causing cracks on the walls of the houses.
“We do not trust the politicians”
Another issuementioned was the destruction caused on the trees. Erten said that the dust coming from the quarries is covering the olive and hawthorn trees, affecting them in an irreversible way and the trees are giving less yield each year.
During the march, a woman having cancer treatment stated that she is not leaving her house and trying not to sit outside to protect herself from all the dust and dirt.
Representatives from the Communal Democracy Party, the New Cyprus Party and Baraka Culture Centre activists were there to support the protest.
Original news report in Turkish: http://www.ankaradegillefkosa.org/sirinevler-halkinin-tas-ocagi-tepkisi-buyuyor/
