Courtesy of Mish.
Since December, radical groups staged coordinated arson attacks at the homes of five Greek journalists and fire-bombed the brother of a government spokesman.
Six days ago, nine shots hit the New Democracy part office, one of them in an office occasionally used by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
In a disturbing trend of increasing violence, a Bomb exploded at Athens mall earlier today.
A homemade bomb exploded inside a suburban Athens shopping mall on Sunday, slightly injuring two security guards as they checked that the three-story building had been fully evacuated.
The device, placed near a moving staircase and a bank ATM on the first floor, caused only moderate damage, a police official said.
“This homemade bomb did not only target a specific building. It took aim at democratic stability, social peace and prospects for economic recovery,” the citizens’ protection ministry said in a statement reflecting concerns that the same self-styled anarchist and far-left groups, held responsible for violence at anti-bailout demonstrations, were behind the latest wave of attacks.
A hooded gunman fired nine bullets from an AK47 assault weapon into the New Democracy headquarters in the early hours last Monday. One landed in the office formerly used by the party leader Antonis Samaras, now prime minister. In other incidents, small devices using gas canisters were placed outside building entrances, timed to explode late at night.
Nikos Dendias, the citizens’ protection minister, said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday that a revival of attacks against business and political targets had been expected since November, when the governing coalition agreed a new austerity package with the EU and International Monetary Fund. “Until now they have been isolated attacks, mainly symbolic,” Mr Dendias said.
Shots Hit Ruling Party Headquarters, Journalists Also Targeted
The Wall Street Journal reports Shots Hit Offices of Ruling Party in Athens
Unidentified gunmen fired shots at the offices of Greece’s ruling conservative party early Monday, police said. There were no injuries and only minor property damage, but the action follows a series of arson attacks in recent days against journalists and others that police say bear a resemblance to past strikes claimed by radical Greek leftist groups.
One of the shots fired, from a semiautomatic rifle, pierced the window of an office occasionally used by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, head of the center-right New Democracy party.
The attack comes as Greek authorities move to crack down on self-styled anarchists. In the past few weeks, the coalition government, dominated by New Democracy, has been trying to assert its authority on the streets of Athens as it struggles with worsening law-and-order problems in the Greek capital.
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