The Greek Ministry of National Defense has announced pplans that it will hire a private contractor to maintain the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier monument, escalating a dispute with the city's mayor over responsibility for the site just a day after Parliament passed a controversial law transferring its jurisdiction.
The move follows a statement by Athens Mayor Haris Doukas indicating the municipality would no longer handle cleaning duties after the new legislation, which also bans protests and activism at the revered site, took effect.
"Responsibility for the monument (now) belongs exclusively to the government," Mr. Doukas, a member of the opposition PASOK party, said after meeting with Defense Minister Nikos Dendias.
While the ministry publicly insisted that under the constitution, cleaning "lies exclusively with the local authorities," it stated it could not "allow the degradation of this place of remembrance and honor."
Therefore, the ministry announced it "will proceed to assign the cleaning of the site to a third party for as long as necessary."
The new law transferring control of the monument in Syntagma Square from the city to the defense ministry and prohibiting protests there was passed earlier this week amid strong objections from opposition parties, who argued it could be used to stifle public dissent.
The government maintains the measure is solely intended to protect the national symbol.