G8 link to arson attacks on German targets in Greece
Police were last night looking to round up a number of suspects after seven early morning arson attacks on German-related targets in Athens and Thessaloniki in raids linked to protests at the G8 summit in Germany. In what appeared to be a coordinated plan, three targets were attacked in Athens in the space of some 10 minutes. At about 1 a.m., an explosive device made of camping gas canisters went off under an empty school bus belonging to the Greek-German School in Pangrati, eastern Athens. The bus and a parked car were destroyed. Similar devices went off a couple of minutes later at an Opel dealership on Kifissos Avenue in the west of the city. Three cars were destroyed in the blaze. Minutes after that, an explosion destroyed six cars at a Mercedes-Benz dealership on the national road near the Kifissia junction in northern Athens. Nobody was hurt in the incidents. In Thessaloniki, four German-related targets were attacked within a 20-minute period. At about 1 a.m., assailants doused a cash machine outside a Lidl supermarket in a flammable liquid and set fire to the ATM. Two Mercedes-Benz dealerships and a Miele electrical goods showroom were attacked some 20 minutes later. Two cars were destroyed in the raids. There were no injuries. The bombings occurred just a few days after police arrested three suspected anarchists in Palaio Faliron, southern Athens, as they were allegedly set to place explosive devices under a municipal police car. Police believe that yesterday’s attacks were carried out in sympathy with thousands of protesters at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, northern Germany.
