In Brief
NIOTIS DEFIANT
Deputy parliamentary speaker insists children not anarchists PASOK MP and deputy Parliament Speaker Grigoris Niotis, whose two children were taken into custody following a police raid in Keratsini near Piraeus on Saturday, insisted yesterday that the property known as «Resalto» where they were arrested was a «political and cultural, self-managed cafe» and not «a hideout for the manufacture of illegal explosives. Niotos’s 30-year-old daughter, a lawyer, and 28-year-old son, a postgraduate student, were among 22 people arrested at Resalto after officers discovered materials they believe were going to be used to make Molotov cocktails. Niotis said he would stand by his children «during this ordeal.» A group of 41 protesters briefly took over Keratsini Town Hall yesterday demanding the release of those arrested on Saturday but eventually gave themselves up to police. Samos smugglers Two trafficking rings smashed Police on the eastern Aegean island of Samos said yesterday that they had broken two migrant-smuggling rings – one comprising three foreign nationals and a Greek and the second run by a Romanian man. According to police, both rings made a profit by selling ferry tickets for Piraeus to the migrants for between 250 and 300 euros a head. The migrants were unable to visit ferry ticket issuers themselves to buy tickets as most of them had been on the island for more than the maximum permitted stay of 30 days and thus would face deportation. Jumbo raid Police in Corinth yesterday were seeking the perpetrators behind a raid on a branch of the toy retailer Jumbo on the Athens-Patra national road a few kilometers from the Peloponnesian city. The burglars gained access to the store by breaking into the adjacent Public Power Corporation substation, according to police, who said the raid was probably carried out early yesterday. The intruders used a lathe to break open the safe and steal an undetermined sum, according to police. Hit and run An unidentified male pedestrian was killed in the early hours of yesterday morning after being hit by a motorist on the old national road connecting Athens to Patra, close to the site of Ancient Corinth. Police had no leads about the perpetrator of the apparent hit and run by late yesterday. No details were released about the victim of the collision. Factory blaze A large blaze that broke out early yesterday at a paint factory near Koropi, in southeastern Attica, was brought under control by firemen within a couple of hours and before it could wreak serious damage to the premises. A total of 24 firefighters, manning eight fire engines, were dispatched to the scene. There were no reports of any injuries. Psomiadis better Thessaloniki Prefect Panayiotis Psomiadis was yesterday discharged from a hospital in Thessaloniki where had been admitted on the night of November 29, a few hours before the conclusion of voting in the New Democracy leadership contest in which he had been a candidate. The 61-year-old had had a high temperature and was experiencing problems breathing. Doctors said that Psomiadis had been suffering from a form of bronchitis.
