November 21, 2022 - Hundreds of cyclists recently gathered in Athens and other cities for demonstrations organised by ECF Member Hellenic Urban Cycling Federation. Protestors demand the government move forward with Greece’s national cycling strategy and implement it immediately.
On October 2, hundreds of cyclists convened in cities across Greece for demonstrations organised by the Hellenic Urban Cycling Federation. The demonstrations invited cyclists to take to the streets and claim their right to safer infrastructure, signage and rules by pressuring the government to implement its long-awaited national cycling strategy.
The strategy was first initiated by the Greek Ministry of the Environment three years ago and announced in a press release in September 2020. A study from the Ministry of the Environment was then handed over to the Ministry of Transport, recognising the strategy’s competence. However, the latter has failed to act on the strategy in the last 11 months and patience is now wearing thin amongst Greek cycling organisations and activists.
“In today’s era of economic, energy and climate crisis, the bicycle is one of the solutions that within the urban fabric reduces the cost of movement, requires zero resources for its movement, does not burden the environment and has multiple health benefits,” the Hellenic Urban Cycling Federation states in a memorandum to the Greek government. “All of us who have gathered and come here today with our bicycles, responding to the call of the Hellenic Urban Cycling Federation, represent the urban cyclists from all over Greece who have organised bicycle demos in their cities and are claiming for the rightful place of the bicycle in the mix of urban mobility.”
Read the full story here.
