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No horsing around Protesters, police scuffle over Olympic Equestrian Center
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- About 100 protesters scuffled with police on Friday at the proposed site of the Olympic Equestrian Center in an eastern suburb of the capital, authorities said. The demonstrators clashed with police when construction workers tried to fence off the property in Markopoulos. The protesters were reportedly former owners of the land who are upset over the low price the government paid them to expropriate the property. The incident was another example of growing dissent among locals toward the organization of the 2004 Games. The proposed Olympic rowing site, in a seaside area 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Athens, has become the focus of a domestic and international campaign to move the venue. Environmentalists and archaeologists are concerned the project could disrupt a sensitive wetlands ecosystem and intrude on the historic site of the 490 B.C. Battle of Marathon, which gave its name to the marathon race. A number of appeals have been lodged with Greece's highest administrative court to stop construction of the rowing venue, and a ruling on one of the cases could come as early as next week. The government and Olympic organizers insist the rowing center will be built on land that was under water at the time of the ancient battle, a notion some archaeologists dispute.
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