Kostas Bakoyannis

As part of its bid to free up public space, the City of Athens is pressing forward with plans to remove more than 800 abandoned bicycles and motorbikes from the streets and sidewalks of the capital.

Some of the bikes have been recorded by the municipality's sanitation and recycling department, others by members of the municipal police and others still reported by citizens.

Greece has officially entered the new year and the new decade with pomp and show, as well as calls for unity.
Celebrations are in full swing across the country with fireworks and music shows taking place in major cities.
Party-goers gathered at Syntagma Square in central Athens as they awaited the final countdown which was attended by new city mayor Kostas Bakoyannis.

Traffic restrictions will come into effect in Athens on New Year's Eve as the capital celebrates the arrival of the new year and new decade.
Syntagma Square and all the roads around it will be closed off from 8 p.m. on Tuesday evening until the end of celebrations late into the night, which include a two-stage musical event and a New Year welcome by Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis.

The Athens municipal authority will be hosting a Christmas luncheon for some 1,200 of the Greek capital's homeless and poor on Wednesday.

The lunch, which will be held at the Rouf indoor municipal sports arena, will be opened at 1 p.m. by Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis, while there will also be music and gifts. 

A new Christmas tree that was set up in Exarchia Square in downtown Athens on Friday morning after the previous one was torched was destroyed in the same manner just a few hours later.

The City of Athens has replaced a Christmas tree on the main square in the downtown neighborhood of Exarchia after its predecessor was torched by anarchists objecting to a police crackdown in the area.

Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis announced the placement of the new tree on Facebook on Friday morning.

Citizens' Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis and Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis have signed a four-year cooperation agreement aimed at improving day-to-day life in the Greek capital.

The document signed on Monday foresees the creation of a Center for Managing Daily Life, which will be operated jointly by the Hellenic Police (ELAS) and the Athens Municipal Police.

Lycabettus Hill, an iconic landmark on the Athens landscape, is to undergo a major overhaul designed to make it safer and more attractive to visitors and local residents, the City of Athens announced on Thursday.

A man walks past an overflowing garbage dumpster in Athens on Thursday following nearly a week of strike action by municipal workers protesting the government's plans to make it easier for private contractors to undertake municipal sanitation projects. Teams were expected to start a cleanup Thursday though unionists have not ruled out further action.

Greek Presidential Guards, known as evzones, present arms during a ceremony for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Athens from the Nazi occupation, with the Parthenon temple seen in the background, atop Acropolis Hill in Athens, on Saturday. 'The enemy remains alive, across the globe.