Greece
Anarchists target Greek pressPosted Mar 17 2009
The Greek media have suffered several recent attacks. On Feb. 26 in the downtown Athens suburb of Exarchia, a mob of roughly 300 anarchists broke off from a larger rally and attacked the offices of conservative newspaper Apogevmatini using iron bars, sledgehammers, sticks and stones. Although there were no reported injuries, the group smashed the building’s façade and torched several nearby cars.
The mob that attacked Apogevmatini broke off from a rally of more than 1,000 people protesting a hand grenade attack on a left-wing human rights group and immigrant support network, reported Kathimerini, Greece’s international English-language newspaper. The protest was part of a series of riots by left-wing groups in the country, the worst the country has seen in decades, which were set off by the killing of a 15-year-old boy last December.
In a separate incident Feb. 20, members of the far-left group Sect of Revolutionaries claimed responsibility for a gunfire and explosives attack on Greece’s Alter TV station. No one was hurt in the attack, but police have confirmed that the gun and explosives were the same one used by the group in an attack on a police station earlier in the month.
The Alter TV shooting happened after a Feb. 11 incident in the northern city of Thessaloniki, where, according to the AP, arsonists attacked the offices of Ta Nea and Avriani dailies. The arsonists threw homemade bombs made out of camping gas canisters into the offices. No one was injured or hurt, but there were minor damages. Homemade bomb attacks are common among Greek anarchists and arrests are rare.
More information
- International Herald Tribune
- Kathimerini
- International Press Institute