Mayor of Oropos & Deputies Detained For Malakasa Toll Booth Fire (VIDEO)

English: Locator map for Oropos municipality in Greek region Attica (credit: Wikipedia)

The Mayor of Oropos Yiannis Oikonomakos and two of his deputies were reportedly detained by authorities on Monday morning for the protests/riots that took place on Sunday at the Malakasa toll booth (close to Athens), where one toll booth was apparently set on fire.

Police officials are set to examine the CCTV footage from the toll booths in order to identify the people who are responsible for setting the booth on fire (and/or damaging public property).

Hundreds of residents from Oropos gathered at the toll booths to demonstrate against the government's decision to hike the prices in tolls. Reports claim that during the demonstration, some protesters forced a toll booth employee to abandon his post and then they set fire to the booth.

Later on, the demonstrators blocked off the national road for about 10 minutes. At the same time they set fire to tires and chanted slogans against the coalition government.

The protest was organized by Oropos Municipality, which argues that toll charges are to high for residents, who have to pass through up to eight toll booths while traveling in the area.

Some toll charges have increased by as much as 60 percent as a result of the hikes announced last week.

Καίνε τα διόδια στη Μαλακάσα από newsview