Checks tighten for Easter Week

Police activated a plan of intensive controls, aiming to limit travel between regions in view of Easter week and to prevent a mass exodus from major urban centers – and especially from Attica to various provincial destinations.

In addition to intensive control at toll gates, police will use helicopters and drones and will also check traffic on smaller roads that skirt toll posts, making sure that drivers and passengers are in possession of the right documents. More than 10,000 police officers are involved, while anyone who tries to pass off fake documents will face hefty fines and additional sanctions, police said.

Traffic police data show that the increase in traffic on the national road network was marginally greater on Friday than last Friday, April 16.

Moreover, most residents of Attica have so far shown compliance with the announced interregional travel ban.

The decision for tighter inspections was taken in anticipation that a number of people will attempt to defy restrictions in order to spend the Easter holidays in the countryside, mostly in their family villages.

The mass exodus from cities at Easteris a customary feature in Greece, but this year’s holiday – Orthodox Sunday Easter is on May 2 – will be the second in a row that movement has been curtailed in an effort to limit the spread of the pandemic.

S: Kathimerini.gr