In Brief
UNIVERSITY ASYLUM
PM says he may change or scrap law due to abuse The government is considering introducing stricter guidelines to prevent the abuse of the university asylum system, according to Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. In an interview with Antenna TV, the premier said that his government may even think about repealing the law, which prevents police from entering university grounds without permission, because it is so frequently abused. On Wednesday, a group of some 20 people forced their way into the Athens Technical College and attacked two teachers before daubing slogans on the walls. They were protesting a decision to put several anarchists on trial. LUCKY ESCAPE F-16 pilot survives crash The pilot of a Greek air force F-16 fighter jet escaped with minor injuries when his plane crashed in an uninhabited area near Ioannina, northwestern Greece, yesterday morning. The pilot ejected safely during the training flight after birds apparently were sucked into the plane’s engines. The jet came down almost 10 kilometers southeast of Ioannina. The pilot was collected by a helicopter rescue team and taken to a military hospital as a precautionary measure. Police firebombed A group of about 10 people wearing hoods threw Molotov cocktails at a police station in the northern Athens suburb of Melissia early yesterday. Nobody was hurt in the incident but six cars were seriously damaged. The guard on duty fired warning shots into the air, while another officer threw two stun grenades in an attempt to deter the assailants. Some of the attackers escaped on foot while others rode off on motorcycles. Premier’s uncle Achilleas Karamanlis, the uncle of Prime Minister Costas Karmanlis and younger brother of late premier and president Constantine Karamanlis, was being treated in a Thessaloniki Hospital after being injured in a car crash. The 79-year-old suffered a broken leg and ankle in the crash, which occurred as he was returning from a speech by his nephew in Thessaloniki. The former minister and Serres MP underwent a successful operation and was reported to be in stable condition. Officer run over A traffic police officer who had arrived at the scene of a minor accident on the ring road around Thessaloniki late on Wednesday was run over and seriously injured. Police did not give any more details. Banks torched Three banks in different parts of Athens were damaged by incendiary devices in a period of about 20 minutes early yesterday. Police said that the devices went off outside a branch of Millennium Bank in Palaio Faliron, southern Athens, Alpha Bank in Maroussi, northern Athens, and Aspis Bank in Halandri, northeastern Athens. The attacks occurred between 1.03 a.m. and 1.25 a.m. The blasts caused minor damage but no injuries.
