Rubber bullets against demonstrators

Greeks want results from the police force in eliminating violence by anarchist agitators, says Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras

‘Of course I have set targets and I demand results; I have questioned those in charge about the lack of results,’ says Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras.

By Dora Antoniou and Yiannis Souliotis - Kathimerini

Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras, who claimed in an outburst in Parliament Friday that he was grappling with a managerial crisis within the police force, said in this interview with Kathimerini that he feels he has not been sufficiently briefed on the hooded thugs making the attacks, and wondered why no trace has been found of the notorious “robber in black,” Simos Seisidis, who has been wanted for a year and a half. Polydoras has been in the line of fire after a wave of attacks on police stations and other targets in central Athens by suspected anarchists, the firing of shots at a police station in Nea Ionia and riots at almost a dozen prisons across Greece. Saying he has assumed his responsibilities, the minister called for the support of politicians and the media in condemning the perpetrators of these crimes, and said that in the future, attacks with gas canisters, the torching of cars, breaking shop windows and attacks on police officers would be eliminated and the perpetrators arrested. He suggested that paintballs and rubber bullets be used against demonstrators and hooligans.