anthropologie du présent

Six police hurt in Athens attack

(AFP) – 28 octobre 2009

ATHENS — Six Greek police officers were shot and wounded, two of them seriously, in an attack against a police post in a northern suburb of the capital Athens, police said.

Three unidentified attackers opened fire on the Aghia Paraskevi post with an automatic weapon and escaped on two high-powered motorcycles.

The wounded officers, one of whom was a woman, were admitted to Athens hospitals.

One suffered bullet wounds to the chest, another to the stomach and four others to the shoulder and legs.

President Carolos Papoulias condemned what he called « the cowardly terrorist attack » and expressed his sympathy for the victims.

Minister for the Protection of Citizens Michalis Chryssohoidis, who along with Health Minister Mariliza Xenoyannokopoulou visited the wounded officers, called the attack « one hundred percent terrorist. »

Promising that society « will not let itself be terrorised, » he appealed to the people to help the police arrest those responsible.

Around 50 bullet casings were recovered from the scene of the attack, and police said they suspected either a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle or a Skorpio submachine gun had been used.

There was no claim of responsibility, although similar attacks have been carried out in the past by two extremist groups.

They are the extreme-left group Revolutionary Struggle, which has been active since 2003 and is listed by the European Union and United States as a terrorist organisation, and the Revolutionary Sect, which appeared early this year.

Leftist extremists have launched a number of attacks on police targets since riots last December triggered by the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old youth.

6 Greek police officers wounded in attack

By DEREK GATOPOULOS (AP) – 28 octobre 2009

ATHENS, Greece — Gunmen on a motorcycle fired on a suburban Athens police station with automatic weapons late Tuesday, wounding six police officers, authorities said.

The attack occurred after Greece’s new Socialist government promised to crack down on anarchist and far-left militant groups that have stepped up bombings and shootings in the wake of riots in Athens and other cities in December.

Two officers were seriously wounded in Tuesday’s shooting, which occurred at 9:40 p.m. (1840 GMT, 2:40 p.m. EDT) in the Agia Paraskevi area, north of the Greek capital, police said. Four other officers were hospitalized with less serious injuries, while a bystander was treated for shock, state hospital officials said.

« This was a cowardly and murderous attack … it was 100 percent terrorism, » said Michalis Chrisochoidis, a government minister in charge of police.

Two men on a motorcycle stopped and opened fire on police officers standing outside the station before driving away. The gunmen fired about 50 shots, authorities said.

Officers from the police’s anti-terrorism division gathered evidence at the targeted police station, while police stopped and searched vehicles across northern Athens.

No group claimed responsibility for the shooting, but suspicion fell on far-left militant groups that have increased attacks since the December riots that were triggered by the fatal shooting of a teenage boy by police.

In June, gunmen shot dead an anti-terrorist policeman guarding a witness in central Athens. A group called Sect of Revolutionaries later claimed responsibility, saying it acted to avenge the teenage boy’s death.

The country’s Socialist government, which won general elections earlier this month, has promised to crack down on domestic terrorist groups.

Police were also bracing for potential violence on the Dec. 6 anniversary of the police shooting that sparked the riots in Athens and other Greece cities.

« These cowardly killers will be caught and brought to justice, » Chrisochoidis said

Gunmen wound seven in Athens attack: Greek police

Tue Oct 27, 2009

By Angeliki Koutantou

ATHENS (Reuters) – Two gunmen on a motorcycle launched an attack outside a police station in Athens on Tuesday, wounding six Greek police officers and a passer-by, police said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but Greece’s new Socialist government, which swept to power earlier this month, vowed to track down and arrest the gunmen.

Leftist and anarchist groups have mounted a series of attacks against police, businesses, public institutions and politicians since a policeman shot dead a teenager in Athens in December, sparking Greece’s worst riots in decades.

« Two unknown assailants riding a motorcycle shot and injured police officers outside the police station, » said a police official, who declined to be named.

One policeman, who was guarding the police station at the time of the attack, was in a serious condition, said the official.

« Our response will be immediate and resolute, » Civil Protection Minister Mihalis Chrysohoidis, who has made combating guerrilla groups a top priority, told reporters after visiting some of the wounded at an Athens hospital.

« Coward murderers will be arrested and brought before justice, » he said.

The far-left Rebel Sect urban guerrilla group claimed responsibility for the killing of an anti-terrorism policeman in June, the worst attack since the December riots.

A little-known group, The Council for the Deconstruction of Order, said on Tuesday it was responsible for makeshift bomb attacks outside the party offices of a minister and a deputy minister last week in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Jon Hemming)

~ par Alain Bertho sur 28 octobre 2009.

Publié dans émeutes, riots