by Aggelos Skordas
A Molotov bomb attack against a police bus in Thessaloniki on Saturday, clashes between anarchists and riot police squads in Exarcheia, downtown Athens throughout the weekend and a vandalism attack on the Trade Secretariat in the center of the Greek capital on Monday morning by members of the anarchist group Rouvikonas, has triggered yet another round of fierce political debate in Greece. Conservative main opposition New Democracy is accusing the leftist SYRIZA-led coalition government of demonstrating unjustified tolerance in political violence and for insufficient action to fight this violence off:
“Following the murderous attempt against police officers, [carried out] by hooded assailants who used the academic asylum of the Aristotle University as their base, the tolerance of the SYRIZA-ANEL government in the leftish violence is demonstrated in the most official way”, reads a statement issued by New Democracy’s Thessaloniki MP Stavros Kalafatis, with more than 30 petrol bombs used against a police bus, near the city’s Turkish Consulate.
The violent incident took place on Saturday night during the shift change of the policemen guarding the Turkish Consulate and was carried out by some 20 individuals who -after cutting off the traffic using garbage bins and other items in order to immobilise the bus- threw Molotov bombs against the bus packed with policemen, which was eventually set ablaze. Seconds after the raid the hooded individuals entered the premises of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Despite the ferocity of the attack, no injuries or arrests were reported while the severely damaged bus had to be towed away.
Local police officer’s have requested the attack to be investigated by the prosecutor as, according to the victims, the assailants aim was to kill them. “The squad was under a murderous attack. The prosecutor must intervene for what is going on inside the universities premises” the Vice President of the Union of Police Officers of Thessaloniki Dimitris Pandiotis said on the occasion.
In the early hours of Saturday another group of anarchists hurled Molotov bombs against riot police squads and burned a Greek flag outside the historic building of the Athens Polytechnic School in the central neighborhood of Exarcheia. Police fired back with tear gas and cordoned off the central Patission Street for several minutes. No injuries or arrests were reported in that case either.
On Monday morning some 15 members of the anarchist group Rouvikonas stormed into the General Secretariat for Trade in Kaningos Square, central Athens, on Monday morning causing damages in the building before making off to the nearby district of Exarcheia. The anarchists were calling for the release of convicted November 17 hitman Dimitris Koufodinas who has been on hunger strike since last Wednesday, due to the rejection of the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s over his latest request for prison leave.
In an interview with the Greek daily “Ta Nea”, the Alternate Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection Nikos Toskas hit back at the opposition on the controversy over the safety. As he said, police has clear orders to intervene in the district of Exarcheia, the famous home for Greek anarchists, rebutting the claims of the main opposition and police unions that the region is de facto inaccessible for police forces. Furthermore he attempted to connect the acts of several members of the anti-establishment with illegal drag trade in the area: “Some of these punks present themselves as supposed revolutionaries but are connected or used by drug trafficking networks.”
*Watch the video of the bus attack here-
