In Brief
HOODIES LAW
Bill envisaging tough sentences to be submitted on Monday A bill that introduces tougher sentences for those committing crimes while their faces are covered, is due to be tabled in Parliament on Monday. The draft law, which has been heavily criticized by opposition parties, aims to introduce jail sentences of two to 10 years for anyone caught damaging property, attacking policemen or looting during public demonstrations. The government drafted the bill after a gang of hooded youths smashed shop and car windows in the central Athens district of Kolonaki earlier this year. ATHENS CARJACKING Suspect beaten and hospitalized A 31-year-old Syrian man was being treated at KAT Hospital in northern Athens yesterday after being assaulted when he and two accomplices allegedly tried to steal a car in the city center. The three men are said to have tried to pull a woman out of her car on Evripidou Street but were prevented by passers-by. The 31-year-old suffered multiple bruising in the ensuing scuffle. It was not clear what happened to his alleged accomplices. Serial thieves Two men aged 23 and 24 were arrested in Attica yesterday on suspicion of breaking into 48 homes and 10 cars in Athens and holding up a post office in the Peloponnese. Both men are Albanian nationals and police said they are seeking a third suspect, aged 28. Meanwhile, a 30-year-old Greek man was arrested on suspicion of carrying out an armed robbery at a branch of Millennium Bank in Iraklion, Crete, in which he allegedly stole almost 15,000 euros. Air assault An unidentified assailant shot air pellets at a commuter bus in the Thessaloniki suburb of Kalamaria early yesterday morning, police said. There were no passengers in the bus at the time and the driver, who was returning the vehicle to a depot, was not hurt. The air gun pellets broke four windows. A similar attack was carried out on a bus in Thessaloniki in December. Grigoropoulos measure The sister of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, shot dead in Athens by a police officer last December, will be allowed to enter university without having to sit any exams, it was revealed yesterday. The measure will be included in an amendment to be submitted to Parliament, sources said. Bank raid A man and woman, both armed, held up a National Bank branch in the village of Mouzaki, near Karditsa in central Greece, yesterday. Another man was waiting outside with a motorcycle, on which all three made their getaway. They ditched the motorbike near the village and transferred to a car. It was not clear how much money they stole. Apartment fire An elderly woman was slightly injured after jumping out of a first-story window of an apartment block that caught fire yesterday morning in the center of Thessaloniki. The woman, whose age was not given, was taken to the hospital for treatment. A total of 18 firefighters were needed to get the blaze under control. No other injuries were reported. It appears that the blaze began in the area of the building that housed the electricity meters. The extent of the damage done to the apartment block was not immediately clear.
