Terrorists put their name to bombing
Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis promised yesterday that the terrorists behind the Revolutionary Struggle group would be caught after they sent a letter to a newspaper claiming responsibility for last week’s bombing of the Labor Ministry and pledged further violence. «[Having] a different point of view is the cornerstone of democracy and cannot be used as an alibi for criminal acts. Terrorists are callous criminals. Law enforcement forces are working systematically and you can rest assured that the perpetrators will be brought to justice,» said Voulgarakis after the weekly newspaper To Pontiki published a statement yesterday from the terrorists. Revolutionary Struggle first appeared in September 2003 when it placed two homemade bombs at the main Athens court complex, slightly injuring a policeman. The organization really came to prominence when it claimed responsibility for the bombing of a police station in Kallithea 100 days before the start of last year’s Athens Olympics. In its statement, the group also claimed it was behind the bombing of two riot police buses last October that did not result in any injuries. The early-morning bombing of the Labor Ministry in central Athens last Thursday damaged the entrance to the building and shattered windows in surrounding buildings. Revolutionary Struggle said the powerful homemade device had been placed there as a warning to the government after its attempts to make structural reforms to the labor and social security sectors. «This was a response to the neo-liberal plans of the Greek state for labor relations and marks the beginning of a new round of action,» said the statement. The group called for an «armed struggle» and «revolution» which would lead to political and social freedom. The statement, which is thought to be genuine, is likely to provoke fears that Revolutionary Struggle intends to pick up the baton of violence from previous left-wing terror groups. Last week’s bomb was the 10th to go off since 2002, when a string of November 17 terrorists were arrested. The Revolutionary Popular Struggle (ELA) group was smashed a year later.
