Shock at island beating

Police probe alleged impunity on Myconos after club fight leaves tourist in coma

Four Greek employees of a nightclub on Myconos yesterday faced a prosecutor following a brawl on the island that has left a 20-year-old Australian tourist in a coma.

The Australian, believed to have been struck on the head with a metal club following an altercation with the nightclub staff in the early hours of Monday morning, was yesterday transferred to Athens’s Henri Dunant hospital.

The government expressed outrage at the violence that provoked the incident, the tragic culmination of a series of outbursts by foreign visitors and Greeks at popular tourist resorts over the past few weeks.

“Such incidents are an insult to the culture that our country taught and continues to teach and harm its image overseas,” said government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos. “I am sure authorities will move swiftly to ensure that those who caused the serious injury of this Australian citizen will get the treatment they deserve,” he added.

The four Greeks implicated in the Myconos attack yesterday faced a prosecutor on the nearby island of Syros. The key suspect is the 25-year-old doorman of the Tropicana nightclub on Myconos, who is alleged to have hit the 20-year-old Australian on the head with a club. Police on the island found a metal club in the possession of the 25-year-old.

The doorman is alleged to have chased the 20-year-old, who had been with another three Australians, following allegations that they had been stealing bags in the Tropicana, and beaten him. The doorman is alleged to have been aided by a car park attendant from the nightspot, and two employees from an adjacent club who were also arrested.

Meanwhile, police in Athens were trying to learn why they were informed about the incident by the Australian Embassy only yesterday, at least 10 hours after the beating occurred.

Sources told Kathimerini yesterday that a similar incident about one month ago, involving an Albanian national who was transferred to an Athens hospital with serious injuries following a fight on Myconos, had also failed to reach police attention immediately.

Police in Athens have said they will work with their colleagues on Myconos to determine whether local authorities are failing to crack down on a range of violations out of fear of clashing with high-profile owners of clubs and property on the island.