Fires Rage in Greece For Fifth Day (1/2)

Political commentators in Athens say whether the fires will have an effect on next month's general election depends on how the public judges the government's handling of the crisis.

But opposition politician Stavros Lambrinidis, a member of the European Parliament, tells VOA that now was not the time for political parties to fight. He says the country is under a state of emergency and this is a time for political unity.

"People can draw their conclusions without us politicians getting involved, what we should get involved in is insuring that not one more life gets lost and not one more livelihood" class="hjdict" word="livelihood" target=_blank>livelihood gets destroyed. And this a tough job ahead of us, we have to get it done. When I say we, I mean the government, but we as opposition have to push them to do it."

Scores of people gathered in Athens to voice their anger over what they described as the governments botched handling of the fires. Many of the demonstrators were from left-wing and peace groups.

Property developers have been accused of starting some of the fires to clear the land for future construction.