Another “episode” was added to the feud that has been developing lately, between them Municipal authority of Gavdos and her Gavdos Visitors’ Initiative, on the occasion of the ban on nudity on Sarakinikos beach.

The Initiative highlights its decision to oppose the operation of “relocating those who want to enjoy their bathing in Sarakiniko without a swimsuit”, as it typically states, with a new announcement, again firing shots at the Municipal authority of the unspoiled island.

As pointed out in the announcement, “this hostile attitude (by the municipal authority) towards the campers, the toxic and at times insulting characterizations towards them, had the effect of reducing visitors to the island by thousands this year”.

In detail, the new announcement of the Initiative states:

“With or without a swimsuit, we send a message of unity and freedom from Gavdos, against those who try to divide us with conservative ideas. We coexist, we respect, we fight.

We responded to the insults, the operation of displacing those who want to enjoy their bathing in Sarakiniko without a swimsuit, as has been happening for 50 years, on Saturday 19/08, with a group action, in which we participated with people with or without clothes, sending a message of unity and struggle for the island we love so much and have been visiting continuously for many years.

What is happening in Gavdos:

At the Board of Directors of the Municipality of Gavdos held in July, the right of vacationers to swim at the beach of Sarakinikos as they wish, whether with or without a swimsuit, was questioned for the first time, something that has been the case for decades since the arrival of the first visitors to the island in the 1970s. In the same Board of Directors, the vacationers were characterized by members of the Municipal Authority as “demonstrators” but also as “occupiers of the island for years”. In continuation of the above, a new police officer and the Coast Guard harassed individual naked bathers, culminating in the incident on 17/08 where a police officer in civilian clothes tried to bring in a vacationer who, while waiting for the bus, dived into the sea without a swimsuit. He took away his ID, threatened to handcuff him and advised him to talk to a lawyer. Due to the immediate intervention of those present as well as people from our Initiative, the adduction was canceled and the identity card was returned to its owner. It is clear that the municipal authority with its “divide and rule” tactics is trying to introduce non-existent divisions between vacationers and locals under the guise of the doctrine of “order and morality” in order to serve its plans to change the character of the island. The aim is to change the economic and social profile of visitors.

Ignoring nearly 50 years of harmonious coexistence, cooperation and cordial relations between holidaymakers and locals, the municipal authority with a new announcement escalates the war against campers that began in 2021 when it removed the communal showers and sent City crews to dig up whatever public taps there were for sharing. In fact, after the mobilizations of the vacationers, many locals stood in solidarity with us and gave us the necessary access to water for every human being, installing showers in their shops. The following year, in 2022, he targeted people who chose to spend the winter on the island, and this year he is targeting nudists. This hostile attitude towards the campers, the toxic and sometimes insulting characterizations towards them, resulted in thousands of visitors being reduced this year on the island, and especially in Sarakiniko, where nudity was prohibited.

You can also read our text-response to the announcements of the Mayor, Lilian Stefanaki, as well as our complaint about the attempt to attract a bather”.