The intervention of a public prosecutor caused the issue of the cutting of 41 deciduous trees (poplars) in the Roman Agora square, following reactions from citizens of Thessaloniki who oppose the relevant decision of the central municipality.

The prosecutor ordered a preliminary investigation by the White Tower Police Department to investigate whether or not these cuts were illegal. There had been earlier complaints to the Police by representatives of environmental organizations and collectives.

For the same reason, they appealed to the Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki, filing injunctions, with which they request that the cuts be “frozen”.

However, the Thessaloniki Court of First Instance rejected today the request submitted by the Urban Green Network “SOS the trees”.

Thus, the municipality of Thessaloniki received the green light to continue without interruption the interventions for the replacement of 41 dangerous trees in the Ancient Agora square.

During the procedure, before the president of the First Instance, the head of the Green Department of the municipality of Thessaloniki, Dimitris Sotiriadis, was examined, who spoke about dangerous trees.

He also emphasized that in the previous year (2022) an increase in tree falls was recorded and the municipality of Thessaloniki was asked in 29 cases to proceed with compensations, following the out-of-court settlement process.

From the side of the “SOS for the Trees” Network, the head of the “Ecology Solidarity” municipal faction, Michalis Tremopoulos, testified, asking to stop the destructive cutting of trees – as he said – and to evaluate each case separately (he used the term “tree-surgery” ).

Photo source voria.gr