Athens metro station vandalism a growing concern
A recent spike in incidents of vandalism at metro stations around Athens has become a matter of growing concern for authorities trying to keep up with repairs.
According to the Urban Rail Transport Company (STASY), a subsidiary of the Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA), incidents of willful damage, in particular to ticket validation machines, have become so frequent that authorities are sometimes not even aware of it until long after the event.
In late night attacks on Saturday, a group of around 20 hooded individuals smashed ticket validation machines with sledgehammers and sprayed graffiti on the walls at central Monastiraki station. The attack, which followed a similar incident the night before at Kerameikos station, caused headaches over the weekend for thousands of commuters wanting to validate tickets.
Ticket machines at Aghios Eleftherios station north of central Athens were also vandalized on Sunday. According to reports, there were even more attacks, which included window smashing, over the weekend on stations on Line 3 that STASY had not been aware of.
There were no reports of injuries or arrests in the attacks.
