Residents of the historic Athenian neighborhood of Exarcheia led a protest against the construction of a new metro station in their area.

Earlier in the day police forces had moved into the area to secure it as construction work began in the main square of Exarcheia. 

Residents quickly formed groups and attempted to block the setting up of the construction site, with tensions escalating when branches were cut from trees that were blocking the installation of the fencing.

Police even used chemicals, including tear gas, in an effort to disperse the protesters, angering them further. 

Some local residents say a new metro station right in the heart of Exarcheia will completely change the area, and are against the construction of it.

“I think it’s fairly sneaky that they try and do this in the middle of August when they expect most of us to be away,” Dafni, a local resident, told The Pappas Post. “But we will fight this because we don’t want a metro station here in Exarcheia.”

She says with Omonoia and Panepistimio stations just a few hundred meters away, “there is absolutely no need for this.” 

A dedicated account named “No Metro in Exarcheia Square” @NExarcheia has been created on Twitter to share news and updates on the issue.

According to news site Kathimerini, the contractor responsible for the preliminary work on all the sites where metro stations on Line 4 will be built had been notified a month ago “to be on standby,” in view of local reaction.

“During the weekend there were successive meetings between the Ministry of Infrastructure, Attiko Metro and the police to finalize the date,” The Kathimerini report stated. “The contractor was only notified on Monday in order to prevent the information from leaking out. Work began at 4.30 a.m.”