Greek Coalition Unites Against Political Violence

In the wake of the bombing of journalists homes and the brother of the government spokesman, and a gunshot attack on the political party office of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Greece’s three coalition partners presented a unified front against a spate of political violence in the country.
Samaras, the New Democracy Conservative leader, met with his partners, PASOK Socialist chief Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis to discuss the growing incidents amid fears there could be more as Greeks are infuriated over more austerity measures and extremism is rising across the political spectrum.
The newspaper Kathimerini reported that the three leaders were briefed by Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias that there could be more attacks soon as rage and frustration are growing across the country.
It prompted Venizelos to say, “We have racist violence and terrorist violence and even flirting with violence. We have to overcome this.” He called for a “constitutional arc” of forces to unite to oppose violence, what was seen as a cleaar challenge to the major opposition party the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) which the government accuses of implicitly supporting violence, which the party denied.
Police continued to investigate the shooting at New Democracy headquarter as sources told the newspaper that that authorities have in their possession CCTV footage of the incident but it is not clear whether the identity of the two gunmen can be ascertained.
There were two anonymous claims of responsibility on the Indymedia website for the bombing of the home of Giorgos Kedikoglou, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou’s brother, and a series of other arson attacks. The authors linked the incidents to recent attempts by authorities to evict squatters.
Police moved to evict more squatters from another abandoned building and detained 16 people at the Lela Karayianni building, named after a Greek resistance organizer who lived at the property until 1944, when she was executed by Nazi occupiers.
The detainees were later released and the property’s keys were returned to them. Police sources said two buildings were taken back from squatters last week because the owners – the City of Athens and the Seamen’s Fund – had asked for help from authorities. There was no such request regarding the Lela Karayianni squat, they said.