The Greek government has lashed out at the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), which it holds responsible for a protest that saw government spokesman Giorgos Petalotis penned in for several hours at a retirement home in an Athens suburb on Thursday night. Petalotis was prevented from leaving the building in Argyroupoli, where he had been delivering a speech, after dozens of protesters gathered outside.
They shined laser pens into the retirement home, threw eggs and yogurt and chanted slogans. One woman was slightly injured when a smoke bomb went off. Petalotis had wanted to leave via the front entrance, but he was eventually escorted by police via the back door into a waiting car.
It is the latest incident of voters targeting politicians but the government suggested that Thursday’s protest had been organized by SYRIZA, which it accused of trying to capitalize on the recent Indignant protests in Athens and other cities. On Thursday Petalotis strongly condemned the incident on the island of Corfu on Wednesday night, stressing that the Parliamentary system in the country cannot be intimidated.
The incident had occurred when a group of protestors blocked off sixty Greek and foreign parliamentarians in a restaurant late on Wednesday, where the Greek parliament was hosting a dinner for the participants in a regular meeting of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population.
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