Gunmen wound police officer in Athens

By Kerin Hope in Athens

Published: January 5 2009 12:02 | Last updated: January 5 2009 12:02

Unidentified gunmen armed with grenades and a Kalashnikov rifle seriously wounded a police officer in central Athens early on Monday, police said.

Monday’s attack appeared to be linked to the police shooting of a 15-year-old high school student on December 6. It triggered fears of a revival of activity by domestic terror groups that have previously targeted police stations and government offices in the capital.

The 21-year-old officer was guarding the culture ministry building close to the Exarcheia district – the scene of two weeks of violent clashes last month between police and self-styled anarchists following the boy’s death.

The police spokesman said the attack was carried out by “an organised group “ that had used the same automatic weapon to spray a police bus with bullets on December 23 in the centre of the capital. There were no injuries in that attack.

Police used buses and patrol cars to block roads around Exarcheia and made more than 70 arrests.

The culture ministry is guarded by a riot police unit on a 24-hour basis because of its location. A student neighbourhood filled with bars, Exarcheia has long been a venue for clashes between police and radical protesters.

Prokopis Pavlopoulos, the interior minister, said the attack targeted “democracy and the rule of law… but those responsible will find our society is well protected”.

The December riots, which followed the fatal shooting in of a 15-year high school student in Exarcheia by a police officer, marked the worst domestic unrest in Greece for decades. The officer faces charges of pre-meditated manslaughter.

Rioters attacked police stations around Athens and burned patrol cars amid sustained anger over the student’s death.

The centre-right government of Costas Karamanlis, prime minister, came under criticism for failing to prevent rioters from setting fire to dozens of stores and cars in central Athens, causing an estimated €200m ($270m of damage.



Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009