August. Clear sky. Temperatures above thirty degrees. They are the perfect ingredients to spend a relaxing day on vacation at the beach, that wide expanse of sand located on the seashore. Or that is what a beach should be: a place with enough space to plant the umbrella and stretch out the towel in complete comfort. Conditions that do not occur on the beaches of the Greek island of Paros.
The sandbanks of the Hellenic island are invaded by paid loungers and umbrellas, so many that you can barely see the sand. And it is that several private companies are making their particular August, occupying around 20,000 square meters of beach to develop their economic activity. An area that almost triples the legally allowed, 2,000 square meters. Not to mention the exorbitant prices of this service: around 120 euros for the loungers located in the front row and around 40 euros for the rear ones.
Faced with this situation, as if it were a war, the inhabitants of the Greek island have proclaimed themselves in rebellion to recover the territory seized by the sun loungers: the movement of the towel has begun. A peaceful rebellion, with a swimsuit, flip-flops and a towel in hand, but with a clear objective: “Reclaim the beach”, as one of the banners carried by the demonstrators reads in a recent protest that took place along the shore of the Santa María sandbank.
Fed up with this injustice, the locals have formed the Movement of the Citizens of Paros for Free Beaches. Not only do they complain about not having space to find a place on the sand, but they also denounce that the lounger rental beach bars act as doormen, prohibiting those who refuse to pay for a service they do not need from entering.
The citizen platform argues that commercial activities are ruining the island while residents have limited space to enjoy the beach. “We claim our right to public space, the right to enjoy our beaches, which are being invaded by greedy, socially irresponsible businessmen, who occupy them in their entirety or exceed their limits by up to 100 times the permitted legal area,” say the promoters. of the movement of the towel.
The main beneficiaries of the wide range of sun loungers and umbrellas are tourists, although the citizen movement stresses that the campaign is not directed against them, but only against illegal beach bars.
The controversy transcends the citizen sphere. The mayor of Paros, Markos Kovaios, has already taken action on the matter. “The problem is real. We want to solve it and we will not allow any arbitrariness on our island. We are reviewing the companies for a possible illegal occupation of part of the beach. The expert reports have been sent to the State Real Estate Company, the agency to which all the Greek beaches belong”, explains the mayor to the Greek radio station ERT. For his part, the Hellenic Minister of Economy and Finance, Kostis Hatzidakis, assures that in August inspections of beach bars will be increased to locate possible infringements and, if necessary, sanction them. “We are not going to favor anyone,” settles the minister.
The action of the Greek Government is not strange considering that the protests are being reproduced on other islands. This is the case of Naxos, where the popular initiative Save the Beaches of Naxos has collected thousands of signatures for a similar reason.
The pressure that the protests are exerting is paying off. They have already closed three beach bars on Santa María beach after an investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office that concluded that the spaces dedicated to this activity exceeded the legal limits. “It is a great victory, a start for something better,” says a spokesman for the Paros platform.
The towel movement has now exploded in Greece, although other coastal countries are also experiencing similar experiences. Without going any further, in Spain the war of the umbrellas has begun. The custom – not allowed by the authorities, although it is still carried out – of some people getting up early to reserve a place on the beachfront and then leaving has splashed the British. The Daily Mail tabloid accuses them of racism. The neighbors answer them: “Let them get up early.”
On the beach there is also war.
