In Brief
Firebomb attacks
Police, bank, PASOK MP targeted in city bomb blasts A group of about 15 suspected anarchists attacked a group of police officers patroling a street corner near the central district of Exarchia early yesterday, pelting them with stones and Molotov cocktails but causing no injuries or damage. The assailants eluded arrest. At around the same time in Thessaloniki, a homemade explosive device made of gas canisters detonated outside a branch of Millennium Bank, damaging the facade of the building but hurting no one. Late on Friday, a similar device planted outside the office of ruling PASOK deputy Pemi Zouni, on the fifth floor of an apartment block near central Syntagma Square, caused no injuries and little damage. Ship released Somali pirates free freighter Somali pirates have released a Greek-owned freighter they captured two months ago, along with the vessel’s Greek captain and 18 Filipino crew, the European Union’s naval force said yesterday. The release of the Panama-flagged Navios Apollon, taken hostage on December 28, followed the payment of an unspecified ransom, EU officials said. The 52,000-ton vessel had been en route to Thailand from Oman when the hijacking took place. Taxi strike Taxi drivers are due to stage another strike tomorrow and Wednesday in protest at government plans to make them issue receipts, keep account books and pay tax according to their income. Cabbies already staged two 24-hour strikes in February. Vyronas unrest Police on Saturday arrested 11 people believed to have attacked police with stones and Molotov cocktails on Saturday afternoon when a demonstration in Vyronas, eastern Athens, turned violent. The rally had been organized as a protest at the death of a 25-year-old passer-by in a shootout between police and two Albanian criminals on February 16. A coroner fond that the shots that killed the 25-year-old plumber had been fired by police. Suicide probe Police in central Greece yesterday were investigating the apparent suicide of a 53-year-old man found dead on a country road near Karditsa. The man bore one bullet wound to the head, according to police who found a shotgun next to the body. Street killing A 30-year-old man shot in the chest in the street in Korydallos, near Piraeus, late on Saturday night died a few hours later in the hospital. Police said they believed the victim had been murdered in a personal dispute. Sailor death Coast guard authorities on Lesvos yesterday were investigating the circumstances of the death of a 24-year-old sailor whose body was found at around 7 a.m. near the Navy observatory at Agrilia, on the southeastern tip of the island, where the sailor had been based. The cause of the sailor’s death was unclear. Turkish frigate A Turkish Navy frigate was put under watch yesterday afternoon after it approached the Aegean island of Andros, defense officials said. The Turkish ship, which approached the island from the north, retreated at the sight of a Greek warship.
