The “towel movement”: the response to the privatization of Greek beaches

These days, Greece is engaged in a summer battle between towels, on the one hand, and deck chairs (deckchairs) and hammocks, on the other. At the height of the tourist season, thetowel movement », as it is called in Greece, is the nickname with which the Greek media describe a group of citizens who have been mobilizing since this summer to defend public beaches.

The movement began last month on the popular tourist island of Paros in the Cyclades archipelago. On its Facebook page, its representatives say they are “concerned by the looting of the beaches of Paros by companies that exploit part of the coastline”. These Greek citizens denounce de facto the “uncontrolled” privatization of many beaches, in particular by bars which install deckchairs on the sand. The latter sometimes even install fences and charge for the right to bathe. In short, the towel movement calls for respect for Greek law and free access to the sea. Even in ultra-touristy areas.

The consequences of this movement are already visible. On the small beach of Santa Maria, in Paros, for example, the deckchairs have disappeared. PBut above all, the movement has spread. Starting from Paros, it has spread to other islands that also suffer from the excesses of mass tourism, such as Naxos, Mykonos and Santorini. . The movement also extended northward, to the shores of mainland Chalkidiki.

For this reason, in a statement issued earlier this month, the Greek Economy Minister called for more controls on beaches and sanctions for privatizations without a legal basis.

Last year, in Mykonos, RFI collected testimonies from people complaining, such as that of a woman in her thirties who lamented that, facing a forest of deckchairs, she no longer had free access to a beach where she and her friends kept many memories. of their adolescence. . Thus, everyone could sit in the arena, without restriction. Also in Rhodes, a few months ago, before the fires, several inhabitants complained about certain beach stalls which were developing without legal authorization and which, according to them, deprived the inhabitants of part of their island. .