It seems that there are concerns in Athens that the elaborate security precautions, being taken by the authorities for the hosting of the Olympics 2004, may still be there long after the last gold medal has been awarded and the Olympic flame extinguished.
The forthcoming Games have given the Greek authorities an excuse to do what very government in the world wants to do, namely to spy on its citizens. The Greek government passed an anti terrorist bill; and as a result of that, the streets of Athens are literally festooned with cameras and surveillance/listening devices.
There is, I suspect, the lingering doubt in the minds of the citizens of Athens that these "security measures" may well be left "in situ" when the Games are over at the end of August.
It seems that, if reports are to be believed, certain high ranking officials in the Greek authorities have already floated the idea that "it would be a shame to waste the hard work, and money expended in making Athens a national security capital".
Oh dear, monitoring people for their own protection does seem to have an uncomfortable Orwellian echo.
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