“Family Ties,” a film by South Korea’s Kim Tae-yong was awarded the Golden Alexander for best film at the 47th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which ended yesterday evening with the awards ceremony at the Olympion Theater. The Silver Alexander went to “On a Friday Afternoon” by Iran’s Mona Zandi Haghighi. Poland’s Slawomir Fabicki won the award for best director for his film “Retrieval.”

Letter from Thessaloniki...

A film festival and its prospects...

A group of some 100 youths attacked a police station in Zografou, eastern Athens, early yesterday morning, officers said. The youths threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at the building and damaged one patrol car and two parked cars. Nobody was injured in the incident. The police station is often a target for self-styled anarchists from nearby student halls of residence. Police said that another group of youths threw firebombs from within the grounds of the hall of residence and set fire to a dumpster. No arrests were made.

Ceremonies were held around Greece yesterday to mark the 64th anniversary of Greek resistance fighters who, with the help of British soldiers, blew up the Gorgopotamos railway bridge in central Greece during the Nazi occupation in the Second World War. Defense Minister Evangelos Meimarakis laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Athens and said that events of 1942 showed that “a small nation can win its freedom and democracy if it keeps the flame of freedom alive.”

Unidentified attackers threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at a police van that was stationed outside the Sports Museum in Thessaloniki early on Saturday, officers said. Nobody was injured and the raid caused minor damage. Police said that the youths had come out of the Fine Arts Department of the Aristotle University and dispersed before officer could make any arrests. Eight days earlier, a group of some 30 youths attacked the Sports Museum with rocks and smoke bombs, causing serious damage to the building’s main entrance.

An earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale shook the central Greek region of Magnesia on Saturday at 1.45 p.m., according to Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University. There were no reports of injuries or damage. The earthquake’s epicenter was located 42 kilometers southwest of Volos.

A 78-year-old man was killed in Thessaloniki yesterday after being hit by a truck, police said. Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident that took place in the Kordelio area.