Three cleaning workers of the Municipality of Ioannina were taken to the hospital when, while emptying the recycling bins in the center of the city, in front of the Officers’ Club, they presented breathing problems due to the chemicals that some had thrown into the bins, according to a complaint by the Workers’ Association of the Municipality of Ioannina .
As the Association mentions in its announcement, the incident is logically related to the course of the Polytechnic, as tear gas and flash bangs were used at the same point, as can be seen on the various journalistic sites.
“Obviously nothing would have happened if the government had not chosen to use tear gas in yesterday’s Polytechnic march. The same chemicals that our colleagues inhaled and ended up in the hospital were inhaled by the protesters as well as by everyone who happened to pass through the city center yesterday. But it is certainly criminal that dangerous chemicals were found in the recycling bins in the center of the city as if they were cardboard boxes! Unfortunately, this is not the first time that this has happened, nor the first time that cleaning workers have been in the hospital because of such incidents,” emphasizes the Workers’ Association of the Municipality of N. Ioannina.
Finally, he calls on the administration of the Municipality to protect the lives of the workers as it should and to take every measure so that something similar does not happen again.
The reaction of the municipality
The Mayor and the Municipal Authority express their undivided support to the three workers of the cleaning service who are hospitalized at the Hospital with respiratory problems.
As stated in a related announcement, the three workers inhaled chemical substances during the removal of waste from bins in the center of Ioannina. This is an unprecedented event that should be investigated in its entirety.
After all, Mayor Dimitris Papageorgiou requested a full investigation in his communication with the prosecutor’s authorities.
“This specific event makes a lasting impression on all of us. It is unprecedented and unacceptable for chemicals or other hazardous materials to end up in waste bins without those who do so thinking of the consequences and the cleaning workers who are unknowingly faced with them. We express our support to the three workers and to all the cleaning staff who give their daily fight for a clean city”, says the Mayor in his statement.
Arrest and extraditions
Moreover, he was arrested in Ioannina, a citizen, during a march for the 50th anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising.
He was charged with attempted grievous bodily harm, violence against officers, disturbing the peace, the Weapons Act and damage to foreign property.
In particular, the citizen is accused of being in a group of about 100 people, who participated in a march, before his arrest, who, having covered their facial features and holding poles, attacked with stones the Ioannina Support Platoon, which was lined up at a point of the center of the city of Ioannina.
As part of the investigation of the case, a pole with a piece of black cloth as well as a handkerchief (to hide the features of the face), which the accused possessed, were confiscated, as well as 6 stones, which were used during the attack against the policemen, while from his point of view 10 more people were brought in after the incident.
A preliminary investigation into the case was carried out by the Ioannina Security Sub-Directorate, while the case file will be submitted to the Criminal Prosecutor of Ioannina.
