In Brief
ART COLLEGE RIOT
Police detain 40 people after party turns violent Police yesterday detained 40 people in connection with a riot following a party at the Athens School of Fine Arts on Piraeus Street in Tavros, which resulted in extensive damage to property. A group of around 50 people emerged from the school at around 3.30 a.m. and started throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at stores and parked cars, according to police, who fired tear gas to disperse the youths. Last year’s party at the school had also ended in violence. Battle of Crete A week of events and meetings to mark the 62nd anniversary of the World War II Battle of Crete culminated yesterday in a gathering of officials and army veterans from Britain, New Zealand and Australia at the Neoria public exhibition center in Hania’s old town district. Deputy Defense Minister Lazaros Lotides and composer Mikis Theodorakis both spoke at yesterday’s meeting. New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Philip Goff and Britain’s military attache in Greece attended commemorative events in Crete last week. Swimming migrants Samos port authority officials on Friday detained three Iranian immigrants who had swum to the Aegean island from neighboring Turkey using flippers, and 12 Somalis who said they had been brought over in a wooden rowing boat by a Turkish national, who then returned to his country, the Merchant Marine Ministry said on Saturday. Also on Friday, a Turkish patrol boat picked up 11 immigrants trying to cross from Turkey on the sea border with Greece off Rhodes, the ministry said. Car plunges A 26-year-old man who drove his car off a central Piraeus quay early on Saturday morning yesterday faced a prosecutor on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. Salis Hurriyet and his passenger, Serif Girneta, 26, both managed to extricate themselves from the vehicle virtually unscathed, the ministry said. Yesterday, a man drove his car off the pier opposite Thessaloniki’s White Tower, according to the ministry. Christodoulos Dimitriadis also managed to get out of his car, according to the ministry, which did not give further details.
