NEWS

In Brief

ANARCHIST PROTEST

Youths demonstrate peacefully outside French Embassy in Athens A group of some 100 youths protested outside the French Embassy in central Athens on Saturday under the watch of riot police. It was the second peaceful protest outside the embassy in 24 hours. Officers said the youths were anarchists who chanted anti-capitalist slogans. The French Institute in Athens was attacked by vandals on Friday acting in sympathy with rioters in France. STORE SHOOTOUT Off-duty officer injures armed robber An off-duty policeman shot and injured a robber who, with an accomplice, held up a clothing store in southern Athens on Saturday. The two men threatened staff at the Sprider store in Aghios Dimitrios and were about to make off with an unspecified amount of cash when the officer opened fire. Shots were exchanged and one of the robbers was injured and arrested, while the other managed to escape. The injured suspect is being treated in the hospital under police guard. A manhunt has been launched for the other suspect. Bank scam Two men, aged 28 and 37, have been arrested in Thessaloniki after being caught red-handed trying to obtain a loan from a bank using forged papers, police said on Saturday. The men were arrested on Friday after the 37-year-old went into a bank, while his partner waited in a car outside, and applied for a 5,000-euro loan using forged wage slips. Bank employees alerted police who arrested the men and searched their car, where they found more forged papers. The men had already managed to obtain a 6,000-euro loan, police said. Horse crash A motorcycle rider was killed in Halkidiki, northern Greece, after he crashed into a horse which ran across his path on a country road, police said on Saturday. The accident happened at 11 p.m. on Friday and the unnamed 29-year-old man was thrown from his motorcycle on the road between Ierissos and Ouranoupolis and died instantly. Officers did not give details about what happened to the horse. Lucky dip Two men managed to escape from a car after it plunged into the sea in southern Athens late on Saturday night, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. The pair, both aged 21, had been alone in the car when they drove into the sea at the Olympic complex in Faliron. They both escaped unscathed but the driver of the vehicle later tested positive for alcohol. Samos migrants Authorities on Samos arrested 22 illegal immigrants in three locations on the eastern Aegean island, police said on Saturday. The arrests took place on Friday and Saturday after a two-day search by officers. The 22 men were smuggled into Greece together by human traffickers from Turkey, police said. Game boys Police in Thessaloniki arrested seven cafe owners and two employees after finding customers playing illegal games on computers at their stores, officers said on Saturday. Under Greek law, it is illegal for shops to have electronic or games of chance on their premises. Officers also seized some 6,300 euros from the nine men, who police said were charging customers to play the games. Taverna trick Police arrested five people north of Athens in connection with an alleged scam in which they sold taverna owners membership in a trade association which would supposedly ensure that their restaurants were not checked by health inspectors, officers said on Saturday. Two men and a woman were arrested after trying to collect 150 euros in membership fees from a taverna owner in Oropos, east of Athens. The other two men were arrested in Halkida, where the association’s offices were located.

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