In Brief
Demonstrators remanded
Three in custody for alleged part in Thessaloniki riots Three Thessaloniki residents alleged to have participated in riots in the northern port city last Sunday were remanded in custody yesterday after defending themselves before an investigating magistrate against criminal charges. The three men, aged 26, 33 and 37, all refuted the charges, according to sources. Meanwhile a 24-year-old suspected rioter detained after Sunday’s unrest, charged with possession of explosives, was released on conditional terms after claiming that a rucksack containing ready-made Molotov cocktails and a gas mask had been planted on him by police. Migrants appeal Two in Crete clinic after beating Two migrants, a 26-year-old Moroccan and a 25-year-old Palestinian, yesterday brought charges against a group of unidentified assailants who are said to have beaten them with iron bars and knives in a central square in the Cretan port of Hania on Tuesday night. The two migrants were yesterday receiving treatment in a clinic in Hania for serious injuries to their heads and arms. Fatal getaway Four robbers made off with a safe containing 30,000 euros after burgling a woman’s home in the port of Rafina, eastern Attica. Police said that the driver of the getaway car was found dead at the wheel after apparently losing control of the vehicle and hitting a streetlight. Officers, who seized the safe, two guns and masks from the wreck, said they were seeking another three suspects. Dimitrakis trial The trial of Yiannis Dimitrakis, a 30-year-old student who has been linked to the so-called «Robbers in Black,» was yesterday postponed until December 15 after his lawyers requested additional time to confer with their client following his transfer from Domokos Prison in central Greece to Attica’s Korydallos. Dimitrakis is currently serving a 25-year sentence for his part in an armed robbery on a branch of National Bank in central Athens in January 2006. Flu deaths Health authorities yesterday reported the deaths of another four patients with swine flu, bringing the total number of fatalities in Greece to 40. The four new victims were men aged over 40, three of whom had underlying ailments, as has been the case with the majority of those who have died after contracting the H1N1 virus in Greece. Tripoli blaze A large blaze that broke out in a store in the central town of Tripoli early yesterday destroyed the building as well as the premises of an adjacent store but caused no injuries after the quick intervention of the fire service. Three fire engines were dispatched to the scene to douse the blaze and firemen rescued an elderly woman on the first floor of one of the two buildings. Power protest Residents of the village of Ptolemaida, in the northern prefecture of Kozani, are today scheduled to block conveyor belts carrying lignite to a nearby power station in protest at the mounting pollution in the area. Last week residents of another local village, Akrini, which is also near a power station, staged a similar blockade.
