In Brief
PROTESTER COMPENSATED
State to pay 30,000 euros to student for tear-gas assault, court rules An Athens court has demanded that the government pay 30,000 euros in compensation to a student seriously injured during an anti-US demonstration in November 1999 which police tried to break up by firing tear gas, the Eleftherotypia daily reported yesterday. The police officer who sprayed the gas during the march, scheduled to coincide with an official visit to Athens by then-US President Bill Clinton, had abused his authority, according to the court ruling, which also found the general police action illegal. Christos Kouklis, then a law student, had to undergo two operations due to his injuries, which the report did not describe. UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS Thessaloniki staff join nationwide action with five-day strike next week Teaching and research staff working at Thessaloniki University decided yesterday to their colleagues across the country for a five-day strike starting on Monday. Professors, who want higher salaries from January 2003, have said they will be present at students’ final university examinations. WAR CRIME REPARATIONS Germany has ‘moral duty’ Germany has a moral duty to provide compensation to Greek victims of World War II atrocities, leftist resistance hero Manolis Glezos said yesterday, following a meeting with President Costis Stephanopoulos. Glezos, who is running as an independent candidate for the prefectures of Athens and Piraeus, echoed words spoken by Stephanopoulos at a memorial service for the 149 villagers killed in a 1944 massacre by Nazi troops in Hortiatis, northern Greece. «Why should Germany be exonerated, when Bulgaria and Italy have paid compensation to Greece?» Glezos queried. Quake measures Hundreds of families who lost their homes in the September 1999 earthquake that devastated parts of Athens are still living in ostensibly temporary, unsuitable accommodation due to government complacency, the central office of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) charged yesterday. Today is the third anniversary of the quake in which 143 people died. State compensation for damage and relocations was «paltry,» KKE claimed. The KKE also berated the government for failing to push through legislation for the construction of earthquake-resistant infrastructure. September 11 The Athens Concert Hall on Wednesday hosts a commemorative event, combining music with photographs and video footage, organized by the Foreign Ministry to commemorate the estimated 41 Greek Americans killed in the September 11 attacks on New York. Several other memorial events are planned, including a service at the Athens cathedral. Olympic protest Staff of Olympic Catering are to stage a 24-hour strike on Monday to protest against their alleged exclusion from ongoing negotiations to privatize the subsidiary of the ailing state carrier Olympic Airways. Negotiations between the government and fast-food chain Everest over the sale of a stake in Olympic Catering are reaching their final phase and Transport Minister Christos Verelis has yet to fulfill his pledge of inviting staff to express their views, protesters complained. Railway disruptions Athens electric railway (ISAP) trains will not be serving the stations between Tavros and Piraeus from 10 p.m. on Monday until services terminate due to work on the tracks at Neo Faliron, ISAP said yesterday. Replacement buses will serve passengers. MP dies Former PASOK MP Stefanos Tsaparas is to be buried in Thessaloniki this morning following his death late on Thursday night at the age of 87. Bank robbery Two robbers wearing motorcycle helmets and wielding shotguns made off with 7,500 euros after raiding a bank in the Athenian district of Petralona yesterday. They got away on a motorcycle. Heroin arrests Police in Omonia, central Athens, yesterday arrested three Pakistanis and one Bangladeshi believed to have been supplying the capital’s drug users with small quantities of heroin. Pakistani national Ali Raza, 30, from whom police confiscated a total of 70 grams of heroin, is believed to have headed the gang.
