About two thousand demonstrators, representatives of the local government, organizations, political parties, associations, during a rally at the port of Souda, northern Crete, Greece, on Sunday, March 8, protested against the dismantling of Syria’s chemical weapons in the Mediterranean.
The protesters were against the processing of Syria’s chemical arsenal on a ship located on the Mediterranean Sea between Greece, Italy, Malta and Libya, as there is a high accident risk of which the impact would be uncontrollable and immeasurable.
The rally was attended by the SYRIZA MP Michail Kritsotakis who stated there is no adequate information about the international operation which has been described as military. He added that despite the bad weather conditions, the demonstration was successful and that the mass participation showed that the Greek people are more concerned over the issue than the government.
During the rally, Evangelos Gidarakou, professor and director of the Laboratory management of toxic and hazardous waste at the Technical University of Crete, informed the demonstrators about the environmental impact of the operation.
Under the plan, hydrolysis systems aboard the cargo ship Cape Ray are to mix heated water and other chemicals in order to destroy the lethal chemicals. The UN-supported operation has caused protests in Italy and Greece, despite assurances that it carries no environmental risk.
Syria’s chemical arsenal consists of 700 tonnes of the most dangerous chemicals, 500 tonnes of less dangerous precursor chemicals and around 122 tonnes of isopropanol, which can be used for sarin gas production.
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