Word: hellenikon
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...better times, Christos Kortzidis never skips a meal. Yet, for most of this month, the mild-mannered mayor of Hellenikon, a seaside suburb south of Athens, has sat squat in a rusting folding chair in his office, surviving on water and fruit juice. "Starvation," he says, "was my last resort in order to pressure authorities to save the [Greek] beaches from further exploitation." Elected on an independent ticket last October, Kortizidis has lobbied for years against the privatization of Athens' prime beachfront, urging the centre-right government to take on the nightclub owners and entrepreneurs whose leisure venues along...
...Kortzidis the last straw was a violent showdown with a local nightclub owner in May. After a string of ill-fated appeals to the government to shut down illegal nightclubs and business ventures in Hellenikon, Kortizidis took action alone. He faced up against a team of local entrepreneurs, shutting down a sprawling go-cart business controlling swaths of sandy shoreline along Hellenikon. He then ordered a bulldozer to rip out the operation's fenced facade, and commanded a nightclub owner to pull the plug on a pay-beach venue exploiting another part of the Athens coastline, the Agios Kosmas beach...
...that understanding. In London, travelers are patted down, and the government has recently ordered that all checked incoming international baggage be X-rayed, even if the passengers are catching a connecting domestic flight. In most Arab countries, passengers run a gauntlet of 14 checkpoints before boarding. Ironically, at Hellenikon airport in Athens--notorious for uneven security and a target of U.S. investigators--passengers, including those who boarded the doomed TWA 747 bound for J.F.K. last week, are screened several times before they board: by Greek airport officials and by airline officials at the gate...
...plane comes down toward Hellenikon Airport, between the scintillating blue sea and the burning bare stones of Mt. Hymettus. Perfectly clear sky, a flood of light. Has anything changed in Greece...
...glory that is Greece last week played host to the grandeur that is Charles de Gaulle. French Sûreté agents flew in ahead of time to go over the dossiers of resident foreigners and eye new arrivals at Hellenikon airport. Greek army engineers prowled the sewers of Athens, searching for hidden bombs; grey-uniformed cops stood guard 25 yards apart along the eight-mile parade route. Emotionally, a retired Greek general announced that he was personally ready to slash his wrists to give blood, if De Gaulle were shot. More prudently, Greece's Premier Constantine Karamanlis...