Greek mayor on hunger strike over beach access

ATHENS, May 18 (Reuters) The mayor of an Athens suburb has gone on hunger strike in a bid to protect the public's right to free access to a slice of the capital's prime beachfront.

Christos Kortzidis, mayor of the Ellinikon municipality on the capital's south coast, said government plans to tender the Athens 2004 Olympics sailing centre to private business will exclude Athenians from most of the municipality's beaches.

''I am starting the hunger strike today because I feel that not only residents of Ellinikon but every person should have free access to the beaches in Athens,'' he told Reuters today.

In the past years most of Athens' best beaches have been leased out to entrepreneurs who charge an entrance fee or have built nightclubs or other businesses charging entry.

Citizens of the nearby Moschato municipality earlier this week destroyed a steel fence around a large part of beachfront property, saying access to the beach was closed for almost three years despite pledges to open it to the public.

''I will continue for as long as it is necessary with the hunger strike for something that is our right and not a privilege,'' Kortzidis said.

REUTERS SYU KN1658