Health minister lashes out at Athens mayor for canceling concert over security concerns
Athens Mayor Haris Doukas has come under fire from a government minister for canceling a concert that was to be held later this month under the aegis of the Israeli Embassy over security concerns stemming from the spiraling crisis in the Middle East.
The concert had been organized in May last year under the previous municipal administration, headed at the time by ruling New Democracy’s Kostas Bakoyannis. It had been scheduled to take place on April 29 at the Olympia Theater in downtown Athens.
Doukas’ decision was a response to a written appeal from the association representing the Athens Municipality’s musicians, who expressed concern that going ahead with the concert “may not be safe for the performers or the audience,” given the latest developments in Israel’s war against Hamas.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Health Minister and ND heavyweight Adonis Georgiadis lashed out at the mayor, saying that the decision to cancel the concert was “proof of how completely unsuitable” Doukas is for the post.
Georgiadis also scoffed at the election of Doukas – a professor at the National Technical University of Athens who ran with the support of Socialist PASOK – in October, saying that he was chosen “by a disparate coalition of voters of the Far Left, PASOK, and voters of [far-right Ilias] Kasidiaris chiefly on the basis of ensuring that Kostas Bakoyannis would not be re-elected.”
