Greece's Environment and Energy Minister George Stathakis issued a press release issued on Thursday announcing demolition works on illegal constructions had begun.
According to the press statement, the first round of demolitions targeted buildings on the Athens-Sounio coast, Agrileza and the Marathonas-Dionysos area began on Wednesday,
"The government's intention to push ahead with accelerating the demolition of 3,200 illegal buildings in Attica was implemented through legislative interventions a few weeks ago. Yesterday, the first round of demolitions began, which includes 22 deliverable buildings on the Athens-Sounio coastal front, in the Agrileza area, and the Marathonas-Dionysos area," the minister's statement said.
The demolitions have started in the coastal zone, inland scheduled for reforestation, in national parks and watercourses in Attica. The first building scheduled to be knocked down is located in land designated as forest on the Athens-Sounio coastline.
The government's demolition initiative comes after decades of political inertia on the issue and made possible from a recently passed amendment that allows existing contracts to be extended to retain demolition services for illegal buildings on the coastal zone and in forests, for which irrevocable demolition orders have been issued.