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Strong reactions and organized protests have broken out on Paros over concerns for the island’s natural and residential environment. The trigger is the construction of a five-star hotel complex on land next to Marcello beach in Paroikia. Residents, local associations, and civic groups say they’re worried about what further tourism development could mean for the environment and natural resources, with particular concern over water supplies and the preservation of the landscape.

Author Christos Georgousis, a long-time voice on the island’s public affairs, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that was also shared with the mayors of the Cyclades.

The letter:

“A letter to the Prime Minister

Notification to the mayors of all the Cyclades

Mr Prime Minister,

I know that you read citizens’ letters and reply to them.

I am doing reasonably well. I wish you all the best—you are younger than I am and have so many responsibilities. I haven’t been to Marcello Beach on Paros for three years, since 2023, when we held a protest over the beaches. This morning I saw this photograph. I did not attend yesterday’s protest because I was ill.

Something about the photograph of Moschoula—which I may one day introduce you to—stirred something deep inside me. Then I found myself in tears. The destruction is so immense that it shook me profoundly, even me, someone who, out of a lifelong passion for nature, has faced major environmental disasters almost every day.

Please listen to me carefully.

Now that elections are approaching, show this photograph to the Minister of the Environment and ask him to resign. This place was once the delta of mountain streams flowing into one of the most beautiful beaches on the island, with its rich flora and fauna.

If there truly was no alternative, a hotel complex could have been built further uphill (we are not opposed to development) and the shoreline and the beach could have been preserved.

Instead, the entire landscape has been uprooted on an island of only a few square kilometres, and forever lost is the unique natural environment that was so perfectly harmonised with the character of the Cyclades.

This letter is also being sent to all the mayors of the islands, urging them to do everything still possible from this point forward to save the Cycladic islands from the onslaught of wealth, luxury, unchecked excess, and the contempt shown for every law and regulation.

After such devastation, the Minister of the Environment cannot remain in office. The mayors should demand his resignation as well.

I will send a similar letter to all political leaders, urging them to put aside their divisions and petty struggles for political dominance and instead look at Greece in the mirror—a Greece that is disappearing a little more every day.

I know they will hear me.

Political struggle must change. “Save nature and save Greece” should become the foremost slogan. The other issues of injustice will follow.

You are losing the islands, and responsibility lies with your policies as well as those of your predecessors. Whom did you appoint to oversee these matters? Who misled the Minister of the Environment? Someone presented him with fabricated or fantastical information.

In any case, he must leave his post, along with everyone who signed these documents on his behalf.

This photograph will endure through the ages as the image symbolising the destruction of the Cyclades—the destruction of Paros.

You too bear responsibility, but do something now to change the course of events.

We citizens also bear responsibility, because we were given trinkets while our gold was taken from us.

Local government is also responsible because, by its very nature, it ought to expand the sphere of freedom and action. Instead, what we have witnessed is contraction. We have reduced local government to collecting rubbish and cleaning the beaches polluted by the wealthy.

Do something, so that you have tangible achievements to present in the elections.

Where will the fifty swimming pools of this pharaonic development get their water? Talk about water—it is already a critical issue today. We are practically drinking seawater now.

The people of Paros should see this photograph, as should the District Governor, who supports this kind of development.

We set out to pursue development, but instead we were swept onto the road to ultimate destruction.

This photograph is the mirror of that ultimate destruction. It is impossible to come to terms with it.“

Public, association, and civic pushback

Residents, associations, and civic groups have held demonstrations against what they describe as overbuilding and the ongoing commercialization of the island’s natural landscape.

A post from the Facebook page “Movement for the Protection of the Islets” argued that the Marcello hotel project reflects a broader development model that treats every stretch of land, every beach, and every natural resource as a field for business exploitation. The group said that behind terms like “sustainability” and “soft development,” land, history, and the island’s traditional character are gradually being turned into a commodity.

The most recent demonstration took place on July 12, when dozens of citizens marched at Marcello beach in response to a call from local associations and groups opposing a new hotel being built with 46 pools next to the beach. Banners at the protest read messages such as “nature is Paros’s wealth” and “hands off our land.”

The historic Archilochos Cultural Association of Paros said in a related post that everyone’s presence at the protest was a peaceful but clear statement that protecting the island’s natural environment and heritage is a matter for the whole local community.

In May, several island organizations – including the Paroikia Traditional Settlement Association, the Archilochos Cultural Association, the Kedryades Environmental Association, the Naias Nautical Club of Naousa, the Ekatontapyliani Association of Parians and Antiparians, the Friends of Paros & Antiparos Association, and the Secretariat of the Paros Citizens’ Movement – held an event to update residents on the case, covering the legal proceedings so far, possible legal avenues, the issue’s wider social dimensions, and expected next steps.

One statement from the groups said their stance on the Marcello hotel case could – and should – prove decisive given the many other problems facing the island, since the case touches on nearly every issue Paros’s community currently has to confront.