In brief
Keratea unrest
Police push back protesting locals with tear gas and water Riot police used tear gas and a water cannon to push back protesting residents of Keratea, southeastern Attica, early yesterday as they continued their campaign against the construction of a waste processing plant near their community. Police said that a group of protesters threw rocks and firebombs at officers at about 1 a.m. yesterday and the authorities responded with tear gas and stun grenades. A court is due to decide in early February whether construction of the landfill should go ahead or whether residents’ appeals should be heard. Burgling rapists Gang of four abuse woman, 78 A 78-year-old woman was in the hospital yesterday with serious injuries after being beaten and raped by a group of burglars who broke into her home in Ano Liosia, northwest of Athens. According to the woman’s testimony, four youths broke into her home while she was asleep and gagged her and raped her at knifepoint. The youths – all members of the Roma community, according to the victim – fled with a small sum of cash. Robbers nabbed Police revealed yesterday that they arrested four suspected robbers in the eastern Athens suburb of Petroupoli on January 7 after they had held up a supermarket. The gang of four, aged between 18 and 24, exchanged fire with police before being arrested. The suspects, all foreign nationals, are thought to have been responsible for several other robberies at supermarkets and Pro-Po betting shops in Athens. Bomb hoax An anonymous telephone call warning that a bomb had been planted at the main court complex in Piraeus yesterday turned out to be a hoax. The building was evacuated and searched by members of the police’s counterterrorism unit but no suspicious devices were found. The hoax followed two others on Friday when anonymous calls warned police that bombs had been planted at the Parliament building in the city center and at the metro station in Aegaleo, western Athens. Meningitis death A 33-year-old woman from Thessaloniki died in the ambulance transferring her to hospital yesterday after becoming infected with meningitis. The woman had been employed in a private maternity clinic in the northern port city where there have been no reported outbreaks of meningitis in recent years. Meanwhile a coroner said there was no indication that the death of a 20-year-old woman in the central city of Volos last Friday had been caused by meningitis, as originally suspected. The young woman’s parents had taken her to hospital after she had complained of an intense headache and high fever. Dead pigs Prefectural health officials in Trikala yesterday were cooperating with regional police in a bid to determine the perpetrators behind the slaughter of several pigs found in a landfill near the Pineios River. Illegal games Police in Thessaloniki yesterday detained three people on charges of illegal gambling. One of the suspects is the 36-year-old manager of a local cafe that allegedly allowed patrons to bet on soccer games online. The other two suspects are patrons. The 50-year-old cafe owner remained at large yesterday.
