Paros

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Greece is seeing a peak tourist season. But in Paros island, residents have launched demonstrations demanding space and free access to its sandy beaches which has now become a movement against the expansion of pricey sunbeds rented out by private companies. These demonstrations have been dubbed by the media as the "Towel Movement."

According to a report by The New York Times on Tuesday (August 15), a phalanx of lounge chairs with red umbrellas is covering the sand on the Monastiri beach in Paros. 

A pair of front-row seats near the crystalline waters costs At $76 (70 euros) and less than half were taken on a recent day, the report said. Speaking to NYT, a local resident said that in some cases, the chairs covered 100 per cent of the beach.

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"We feel we’re being pushed off the island," the resident said and pointed out that people were being made to feel unwelcome unless they use the services of the beach bars that own the chairs.

Many businesses on beaches expanding illegally

While beaches are public in Greece, local authorities lease sections of them to bars, restaurants and hotels. The report said that though no more than 50 per cent of beaches are supposed to be occupied, many businesses are expanding illegally.

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The NYT report said that in Paros, the businesses have become predatory with up to $130 being charged for VIP sun loungers. Apart from local residents, tourists are also not happy about the proliferation of the chairs.

Local residents have said that seaside businesses have left them hardly a scrap of sand on which to lay their towels.

'Towel Movement' spreading quickly

The "Towel Movement" demonstrations are spreading quickly- from Paros to the nearby island of Naxos, and to other holiday spots in the north and the south of Greece. A report by the news agency Reuters on August 10 said that an investigation has been launched into the Paros case.

Meanwhile, in Naxos, more than 5,000 people have joined the Facebook group "Save Naxos Beaches" which has filed a legal complaint.

Eleni Andrianopoulou, the group's spokesperson, said the beaches were so full of this furniture since the beginning of the tourist season that many people didn't want to sit on a bed or in a chair they didn't have any space anymore to sit."

“People started complaining, sending letters, sending complaints, filing complaints and gathering signatures but nothing happened they were not heard. The situation continued and got worse and worse and so they felt also angry and many of these angry people were going every day to the beach ready for (a) fight," Andrianopoulou added.

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