Residents of the beachside Sotira community help a demonstration on Sunday over proposed changes to the area, closing the exit off the highway leading to Ayia Thekla and Sotira.
“We are here in the tourist area of Sotiras today to protest the fact that in November 2020 we had the local plan for the Kokkinochoria, including Sotira, and after exactly six months the environment department made some decisions which annihilate the value of the local plan and the opportunities that exist for the tourist area of Sotiras,” community leader Giorgos Takkas said.
He said they will proceed with further measures as it is only right that the young people of the area feel they can develop it.
Ayia Napa mayor Christos Zannettos was also at the demonstration, to support the resort’s neighbours.
He said Sotira’s problems are Famagusta’s problems. “A district of which only 15 per cent is left, a district that has been waiting for local plans for the last 20 years, a disrict which we all know is wronged,” he added.
He called on the president to intervene so problems in the are could be solved.
“One problem that concerns all of us here is the future of our children along the entire coastline of free Famagusta, an area that has supported economic activity since the invasion”.
He called on the relevant authorities, politicians and ministers to come up with solutions.
Famagusta deserves this, he said, “we are not a second rate district, we are a district with history and a name”.