The Greek parliament has been damaged due to a bomb attack in its front yard, next to the Unknown Soldier monument. There have been no human injuries due to a warning call.
greek parliament and unknown soldier monument
15 minutes before 20:00 on the evening on Saturday 9 January a bomb hit the front yard of the Greek parliament incurring small damages on the building with many of its windows smashed. The bomb which was pre-announced by the urban guerrillas via a phone-call to the press went off on the Vasilisis Sofias avenue side of the Unknown Soldier monument. The spot had been evacuated by police authorities and no human injuries have been reported. According to the media, occupants of the front rooms of the Great Britain, the country's most exclusive hotel, were also evacuated before the explosion.
At the time of the attack, the home office parliamentary committee was in full session after the humiliating storming inspection visit by EU commissioners in various government ministries the previous day. The visits, which come as a warning regarding the national debt crisis of the country, have forced the government to pledge a reduction of the debt from 12% to 3%. The move has been decried by the left as an inauguration of semi-colonialism, whereas even right wing newspapers like Kathimerini carried front page editorials comparing the intervention with the post-cold-war imposition of a US protectorate on the country.
The roads around Syntagma square remain closed at the time of writing. The Ministry of Public Order make word of "sensational moves" claiming that the response to armed violence should be more democracy. As usual the Communist Party has declared that the attack is "serving those who want to scare the people".
The attack is the first ever against the parliament in the long history of urban guerrilla warfare in the country and is considered to be highly powerful in symbolic terms. The parliament (ex-palaces) is a loathed symbol of corruption greeted by the daily protests in the greek capital by the slogan "Burn, burn the brothel called parliament".
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Update: A few minutes ago the
Update: A few minutes ago the Minister of Public Order appeared clearly shaken by the latest attack and declared: «Some people want to spread fear and panic. We say to them: we are not afraid and we do not panic. They wanted to spread chaos and terror in a spot of high symbolism for the greeks. Athens is an open and safe city and shall remain so. We will not turn Athens into a city controlled by the army". As a proof of the universal human values represented by bourgeois democracy, the police did not evacuate the presidential guard next to the spot of the attack, thus putting the life of the guards in danger for the sake of "high symbolism".
Update2: Still there has been
Update2: Still there has been no communique by any urban guerrilla group claiming responsibility for the attack against the greek parliament. Throughout Monday the police was bombarded by more than 20 telephone farces warning of bombs in various public buildings across the city. The farces have led to closing of streets and considerable disturbance of normal functioning of both the police and the "targeted" buildings such as the Great Britain hotel in Syntagma square. In previous communiques urban guerrilla groups have condemned such practice as risking human lives due to possible police laxity towards genuine bomb warnings.
thanks for the updates, I
thanks for the updates, I would have thought maybe this was the work of "revolutionary struggle", but they usually claim their work with communique don't they?
The attack has been just
The attack has been just claimed by a communique by the Nuclei of Fire Conspiracy (NFC). At the end of the dense communique, the urban guerrilla group declared that the raid on the Chalandri house and the arrests that followed are merely a propaganda trick with no legal bases. The group demanded the immediate release of the three arrested in relation to the NFC case warning on an intensification of attacks otherwise.