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Tuesday the 23rd of December
2008
|
Unidentified gunman shoots at police bus in
Greece
Two shots have been fired at a police bus outside Athens university,
ahead of a planned protest by high school and university students in a
third week of anti-government demonstrations in Greece.
No-one was wounded in the shooting which took place outside the
university, which students have occupied since the December 6 police
shooting of a 15-year-old sparked Greece's worst riots in decades.
One of the shots burst a tire aboard the bus, which a police official
said was empty at the time except for the driver. Authorities are
investigating the incident, which followed a two-day lull in
disturbances.
Police are forbidden by law from entering the university without
permission. It has become the epicentre of disturbances which have
caused hundreds of millions of euros in damage and lost business for
shopkeepers in the capital.
The unrest has also spread to several other Greek cities.
Athens' streets have been quiet since clashes between police and
students on Saturday night but a protest march was scheduled on Tuesday
in the central Syntagma square outside parliament.
The fatal police shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos unleashed
widespread discontent at high youth unemployment, government scandals,
right-wing reforms and an economic slowdown due to the global crisis.
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Thursday the
18th of
December 2008
 |
New protests erupt in Greece over teenager's
shooting
ATHENS, Greece — Thousands of protesters demonstrated in Greece's main
cities Thursday against the police killing of a teenager, while a major
labor union staged work stoppages to protest the shooting and the
conservative government's economic policies.
In central Athens, fearful shop owners shuttered their store fronts as
more than 7,000 students and other protesters marched peacefully,
chanting slogans. Some demonstrators painted white crime-scene-style
body outlines on the streets.
Riot police kept a low-key presence, and a Christmas carousel on central
Syntagma Square was full of children even as the marchers drew close.
Earlier, some 1,000 demonstrators joined a Communist Party-backed
peaceful march through town.
The death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on Dec. 6 shocked
Greece and led to days of the worst rioting the country has seen in
decades. Hundreds of businesses were smashed, burned or looted and gangs
of youths fought running battles with riot police firing tear gas every
night for a week.
The riots were fed by dissatisfaction with the increasingly unpopular
conservative government and widespread anger over social inequality and
economic hardship.
"The government has no solution for this problem and we will keep
demonstrating until our demands are heard," said Petros Constantinou,
one of the protest organizers. "We want to see a signal that (the
government) is changing course."
Protests groups have issued various demands, from the disarming of
police to greater income support for low-earning families.
Although the extensive violence sparked by the boy's death has abated,
sporadic attacks, mainly against police, have continued.
The government appealed for calm after another teenager was shot in the
hand late Wednesday near his school. It was unclear who carried out the
latest shooting. Police said he appeared to have been shot by a "firearm,"
but gave no other details.
"Luckily he was only lightly injured," said Interior Minister Prokopis
Pavlopoulos. "This incident should lead us to reflect how fragile and
valuable our civic order is. It is something we must all defend." He
promised a quick and thorough investigation.
Police spokesman Panayiotis Stathis said no officers had been in the
area at the time of the attack. The boy underwent surgery Thursday.
Some 300 people were also marching in heavy rain in Greece's second
largest city of Thessaloniki in the north, and similar protests were
planned in other cities. No disturbances were reported.
In neighboring Macedonia, a group of civic associations called a
demonstration in the capital Skopje late Thursday in solidarity with the
Greek protesters.
"We are inviting all people with goodwill who still believe in the power
of the ordinary citizen," said a leaflet distributed by organizers.
Meanwhile, the civil servants' umbrella union, ADEDY, held work
stoppages to protest Grigoropoulos' shooting as well as the new state
budget, which was being debated in Parliament and is expected to be
passed in a vote late Sunday.
As part of the strikes, air traffic controllers walked off the job for
three hours, forcing state Olympic Airlines to cancel 28 flights and
reschedule another 14.
State hospitals were operating with skeleton staff due to a 24-hour
strike.
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Wednesday the
17th of
December 2008
|
Greece demonstrators call for Europe-wide
protest
ATHENS (Reuters) – Protesters hung banners from the Acropolis in Greece
on Wednesday calling for demonstrations across Europe, in the twelfth
day of protests since police shot dead a teenager.
"Resistance" read one of the two pink banners in Greek, German, Spanish,
and English, which protesters unfurled from the stone wall of the
ancient hilltop citadel in Athens. "Thursday 18/12 demonstrations in all
Europe," said another.
Greece's worst protests in decades, sparked by the shooting of
15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, have fed on simmering anger at
youth unemployment and the world economic crisis.
"We chose this monument to democracy, this global monument, to proclaim
our resistance to state violence and demand rights in education and work,"
one protester, who declined to give his name, told Reuters Television.
"(We did it) to send a message globally and to all Europe."
The demonstrations have sparked sympathy protests from Moscow to Madrid
and European policymakers, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy,
have expressed concern they might spread as the downturn bites and
unemployment rises.
Protesters demanding the release of people arrested during the riots
occupied the headquarters of the GSEE private sector union federation
and hung anti-government banners from the building.
The ADEDY public sector workers federation has called a three-hour work
stoppage on Thursday against government policy and the teenager's
killing, and rallies are planned for Friday.
Thursday's stoppage will ground all but emergency flights into Greece
between 1000 and 1300 GMT, air traffic controllers said, and disrupt
urban public transport services.
Hundreds of shops and cars were wrecked in 10 Greek cities during last
week's violence. The National Confederation of Commerce estimates 565
shops were damaged in Athens alone, costing 200 million euros and
causing more than 1 billion in lost sales during the Christmas shopping
period.
The protests have rocked the conservative government, which has a one
seat majority and trails in opinion polls. They have driven Greek bond
spreads -- a measure of perceived investment risk -- to record levels
above German benchmark bonds.
As the intensity of the protests has cooled this week, students have
begun to stage sit-ins. About 20 students occupied state TV on Tuesday,
interrupting a news broadcast to briefly hold up banners reading "Against
State Violence."
Scores of schools and university buildings, some of them badly damaged,
remain occupied by students. The policeman who shot Grigoropoulos has
been charged with murder and jailed pending trial, while his partner was
charged as an accomplice.
The policeman says he fired a warning shot in self-defense against a
group of youths in the volatile Exarchia neighborhood, but the family's
lawyer says he aimed to kill without significant provocation.
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Sunday the
14th of December
|
Rioters in Greece
attack police station, banks
ATHENS — Scores of youths attacked a police
station, stores and banks Saturday, as candlelit
vigils were being held to mark a week since the
police killing of a 15-year-old boy that triggered
massive riots across Greece.
Dozens of youths on foot and on motorcycles attacked
a police station in central Athens, at least three
banks, several stores and a government building,
authorities said.
The youths threw at least one petrol bomb at the
police station on Saturday evening before smashing
paving stones and setting up barricades with burning
trash bins.
The latest violence occurred as hundreds of school
children holding candles gathered peacefully outside
parliament and at the site where teenager Alexandros
Grigoropoulos was shot.
Violent protests have injured at least 70 people and
left hundreds of stores smashed and looted in Greek
cities over the past week. More than 200 people have
been arrested.
While most of the protesters have been peaceful, the
tone of the demonstrations has been set by a violent
fringe. And more young people have been willing to
join them than in the past.
Outside parliament, hundreds of school children sat
in silence. Candles spelling out the name "Alex"
were left in front of a line of riot policemen.
Greek youths taking part in protests every day since
the boy's death are angry not just at the police but
at an increasingly unpopular government and over
economic issues.
The young protesters promised to remain on the
streets until their concerns are addressed.
"Speaking as an anarchist, we want to create those
social conditions that will generate more uprisings
and to get more people out in the streets to demand
their rights," said 32-year-old protester Paris
Kyriakides.
"In the end, the violence that we use is minimal in
comparison to the violence of the system uses, like
the banks," Kyriakides said.
Earlier Saturday, a crowd of about 1,000 people
attended a peaceful sit-down demonstration in Athens
and another 1,000 demonstrated in the northern city
of Thessaloniki.
One 16-year-old student at the Athens demonstration,
who gave only her first name, Veatriki, said young
people her age felt their voices were being heard
immediately when they smashed a shop window or a
car.
She also said young people want to see the policemen
involved in the shooting punished and the police
disarmed.
The two officers involved in the boy's shooting were
arrested. One was charged with murder and the other
as an accomplice. The circumstances surrounding the
shooting are unclear.
Giorgos Kyrtsos, publisher of the City Press and
Free Sunday newspapers, said the violent
demonstrations revealed widespread signs of public
discontent.
"We are entering a long period of economic crisis,"
Kyrtsos said. "But there is also a deepening social
crisis, combined with a weakened state. We are truly
at a crossroads."
Kyrtsos, a conservative, was highly critical of the
government's handling of the protests.
"This is the only government I remember that has
managed to alienate both the rebellious youth and
the law-and-order crowd," he said. "It has nothing
to offer to anybody."
Christmas shoppers cautiously returned to central
Athens Saturday, but many stores boarded up their
windows instead of replacing the glass, for fear of
further violence.
Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis greeted shoppers
with the city's brass band.
"People came up to me and were telling me that it
was the first time they had smiled in days," the
mayor said.
 |
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Saturday the 13rd of December
|
A week on, protesters still on
Greece’s streets
ATHENS, Greece — A week after the police killing of a 15-year-old boy
sparked riots across Greece, young protesters on Saturday promised to
remain on the streets until their concerns are addressed.
Several dozen students took part in a peaceful sit-down demonstration in
Athens’ central Syntagma Square. More demonstrations are scheduled later
in the day, including a vigil at the place and time that 15-year-old
Alexandros Grigoropoulos was fatally shot by a police officer a week ago.
"We want to see the policemen (involved in the shooting) punished and
the police disarmed," said a 16-year-old student who gave her first name
as Veatriki.
Grigoropoulos’ death has sparked daily demonstrations that have turned
violent, leaving hundreds of stores smashed and looted. At least 70
people have been injured and more than 200 arrested.
Besides their anger at the police, young people talk about the
deteriorating conditions in their schools.
"We feel that our parents, our teachers do not listen to us. ... Schools
are not a place where real learning takes place, it is just a
preparation for the university entrance exams," Veatriki said.
"We are entering a long period of economic crisis," said Giorgos Kyrtsos,
publisher of the City Press and Free Sunday newspapers. "But there is
also a deepening social crisis, combined with a weakened state. We are
truly at a crossroads."
Kyrtsos, a conservative, was highly critical of the government’s
handling of the incidents.
"This is the only government I remember that has managed to alienate
both the rebellious youth and the law-and-order crowd. It has nothing to
offer to anybody," he said.
While most of the protesters have been peaceful, the tone has been set
by a violent fringe. And more young people have been willing to join
them than in the past.
"Young people my age feel that their voice is being heard, immediately,
when they smash a shop window or a car," said Veatriki.
Kyrtsos said that the hard-core anarchists "number about 500 and
certainly less than 1,000. They are joined by an anti-social element,
many of them soccer hooligans and by many young people who seek
excitement but also feel a diffuse sense of frustration and of not being
listened to."
At the site where Grigoropoulos was shot, scores of people came to leave
flowers and pin messages to a notice board. A privately made street sign
bearing the teenager’s name was placed on the corner of the block.
Christmas shoppers cautiously returned to central Athens Saturday, but
many shops boarded up their windows instead of replacing glass for fear
of further violence.
Glazier Michalis Mentis said he had replaced several storefronts twice.
"There’s been a lot of work for us but it’s very bad for businesses in
general," Mentis said. "It’s very lucky more people were not hurt,
because there was so much damage."
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Friday the
12th of December
 |
Firebombs in Greece for seventh day
ATHENS (Reuters) - Students pelted police with
firebombs and stones in Athens on Friday in new clashes that first broke
out over the police killing of a teenager.
Students, angry at the shooting incident, low wages and unemployment,
attacked police outside the parliament building on a seventh day of
violence that has shaken the government. Riot police fired teargas in
response.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis pledged to guarantee the safety
of its people and citizens.
"Greece is a safe country," he told a news conference in Brussels
Riots since the December 6 shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros
Grigoropoulos have destroyed hundreds of shops, banks and cars, rattled
the conservative government and shaken investor confidence in the 240
billion euro (214.6 billion pound) economy as the global crisis bites.
Even as Karamanlis spoke in Brussels, about 5,000 protesters marched
through Athens carrying banners saying: "The state kills" and "The
government is guilty of murder."
In bond markets, the spread between Greek debt and German benchmark
bonds -- a measure of perceived risk -- reached its widest point this
decade on Friday, at over 2 percentage points.
"We do not expect investors to forget this situation quickly," said
David Keeble, head of fixed income research at Calyon Bank.
Greece's debt almost equals its economic output.
Karamanlis said Greece was weathering the credit crunch better than
other EU members and sent a message to markets that, despite the crisis,
the economy was solid.
"Greece is covering and will (continue) to cover its borrowing needs
smoothly," he said.
The killing of Grigoropoulos ignited simmering anger over a series of
scandals, unpopular reforms and misfired economic measures as the credit
crunch reached Greece.
Police sources say they are running out of teargas after using more than
4,600 capsules in the last week and have urgently contacted Israel and
Germany for more stocks.
"Everyone wants this government of murderers to fall. The government in
four years has only carried out reforms against students," said Maria
Tsoupri, 22. "We don't see a future. We have a future only through
struggle."
Karamanlis, whose New Democracy party has a one-seat majority and has
seen its popularity ratings dive in recent months, expressed sorrow at
the shooting but said the violence that followed was the work of
extremists.
Media criticised the government's slow response to the crisis.
"The Bell Tolls For Karamanlis," Ta Nea newspaper said on its front
page, while Ethnos said "Government Under Siege; Education Protests
Escalate."
Heavy rain helped curtail demonstrations compared to previous days. The
protests inspired small protests in some European cities, sowing fears
of copy-cat riots elsewhere.
Police said 432 people, including many foreign immigrants, have been
detained, with 176 of them charged with violence and looting.
Many Greeks are angry that the policeman charged with murdering the
teenager has not expressed remorse. Epaminondas Korkoneas, 37, testified
that he fired warning shots in self-defence which ricocheted.
He and his police partner, charged as an accomplice, are being held in
jail pending trial, which could take months.
Greeks rushing to work on Friday were keen for their cities to return to
normal after the protests, which the Greek Commerce Confederation said
caused 200 million euros of damage to more than 500 shops in Athens
alone.
Several schools and universities remained occupied by students and
professors formed a human chain around the main university building to
protect it from further damage.
"It will become calm now. But I want the government to clean up, to get
the market and the economy moving," said Isidoros Aletas, 21.
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Thursday the
11th of December
 |
Protesters attack police posts in Athens, 1
hurt ATHENS, Greece – Student protesters pelted 20 police stations with rocks and bottles, overturned
cars and blocked streets in central Athens on Thursday. Police responded
with tear gas as sporadic violence persisted amid Greece's worst rioting
in decades.
Four people were detained and at least one man was hospitalized with
injuries, authorities said.
Lawmakers in parliament, meanwhile, held a minute of silence for the
15-year-old boy whose shooting death by police ignited the uproar on the
streets.
At least 70 people have been injured and about 100 arrested since
Saturday, when the rioting broke out within hours of the killing of
15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
Hundreds of stores have been damaged or destroyed as gangs of masked
youths and self-styled anarchists smashed windows with metal bars,
looted stores and set up flaming street barricades in cities throughout
Greece.
Protests have spread beyond Greece's borders, with demonstrations in
several European countries, including Italy, Spain and Denmark. Greek
diplomatic missions have been vandalized in Istanbul and New York.
Greece's conservative government has come under intense criticism for
its handling of the crisis, despite authorities' insistence that they
avoided heavy handed policing to prevent bloodshed.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose government has a single-seat
majority in parliament, has ignored growing opposition calls for early
elections. However, he has promised shopkeepers affected by riots
handouts of euro10,000 ($12,800) to cover short-term needs.
An opinion poll published Wednesday showed 68 percent of Greeks
disapproved of the government's handling of the crisis. Even before the
riots, the Greek government was already facing public discontent over
the state of the economy, the poor job prospects for students and a
series of financial scandals.
The protesters have begun adopting opposition demands for more financial
relief for low-income Greeks. Greece's minimum wage is euro658 ($850)
per month.
"We demand accountability, that this government resigns, and that this
farce comes to an end," said 28-year-old Spyros Potamias, an
architecture student who joined an occupation at Athens Polytechnic,
where nightly riots have taken place. "This is about our future."
Store owners have been shocked by the ferocity displayed by the rioters
and by the extent of the destruction.
"I can accept anger, I cannot accept looting," said Michael Lavdiotis,
manager of a looted Athens coffee shop, where food and even furniture
was stolen. "They took everything ... we're very frustrated. We didn't
deserve this behavior."
Greece's influential Orthodox Church has joined authorities in appealing
for calm.
"This tragedy cannot be resolved by burning and destroying the property
of people who themselves have problems," said Church leader Archbishop
Ieronymos.
More student protests are planned for Friday.
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Wednesday the
10th of December
 |
General strike cripples Greece after new
riots, protests ATHENS (AFP) –
Thousands of protestors gathered in the centre of Athens on Wednesday as
a general strike brought Greece to a standstill after a fourth night of
street battles sparked by the police killing of a schoolboy.
As two police officers implicated in the fatal shooting of 15-year-old
Alexis Grigoropoulos prepared to go before a magistrate, fighting in
Athens, western Patras and northern Salonika raged until the early hours.
With anger towards the police compounded by frustration towards
conservate Prime Costas Karamanlis, thousands of activists then gathered
in downtown Athens in mid-morning to demand that the government stand
down.
"Sack Karamanlis," chanted the protestors, saying he headed a "Killing
state," as the largest group, uniting students and teachers, marched
towards the national parliament building.
"This death was the catalyst for many grievances ," said 18-year-old
farming student George Tzouvelekis, one of the protestors.
"Look how the banks are being attacked, because they have refused to
lower interest rates amid the economic crisis... Everybody is fed up."
With the general strike hitting banks, public transport and flights in
and out of the country, the wider economic damage from the unrest was
now compounding the loss to property from outbreaks of looting.
Sixteen Greeks and 25 migrants were arrested during clashes and looting
in the streets around the Athens Polytechnic overnight, which has been
occupied by protesters since Sunday.
Educational establishments offer legal sanctuary in a constitutional
legacy of the backlash against 1970s military dictatorship.
Demonstrators holed up in the symbolic university -- at the heart of
1973 student protests which helped trigger the dictatorship's downfall
-- set fire to surrounding streets as firebombs rained down on security
forces outside.
The fights only abated at around 3:00 am (0100 GMT), with a post office,
a bank and a tourist office in the centre of Athens also damaged by
rioters.
Some of the worst of the violence was in Patras, with at least 500
protesters laying siege to the police headquarters throughout the
evening and scores continuing to goad security forces well into the
middle of the night.
More than 80 shops and 14 banks were damaged during violence in Salonika
while eight people were arrested.
The latest clashes followed street battles Tuesday close to the cemetery
where Grigoropoulos was buried, as youths hurled rocks and petrol bombs
at officers in full riot gear, who responded with tear gas.
Hundreds of protesters went on to raid stores in Nea Smyrni, south of
central Athens, with locals later saying police who chased a series of
groups of demonstrators for hours fired their weapons into the air.
Police said Wednesday they were investigating these reports, although a
spokesman stated that such action is within the permitted rules of
engagement.
Sixteen Greeks and 25 migrants were arrested Wednesday during the
fighting, many of whom were to be charged with looting offences.
Unions ignored a call Tuesday from Karamanlis to cancel the protests "as
extremists could exploit them... to continue their violent and
destructive activity."
Greece is awaiting a potentially incendiary ballistics report expected
to shed light on whether the gunshot that killed the teenager on
Saturday was the result of a ricochet, as the officer has stated.
In a televised address Tuesday, Karamanlis blamed running battles
between protesters and security forces on the "enemies of democracy."
The opposition has renewed calls for the government's resignation,
saying it cannot guarantee its citizens' safety.
The riots come at the worst possible time for the Greek government, its
majority having been trimmed to a single member in the 300-seat
parliament following a financial scandal involving property deals.
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Tuesday the
09th of December
French riot police stand in front of the Greece
consulate in Paris
A slogan is
spray-painted on a marble sidewalk next
in front of Greece's parliament
building, on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. The
slogan reads: 'A 15-year-old is dead.
Cops, Pigs, Murderers
The
six-floor
Eurobank
main
office
building
in
Athens
burns
|
Riots rock
Greece, opposition calls for election
ATHENS (Reuters) –
Riot police fought running battles with
hundreds of protesters outside Greece's
parliament on Tuesday while the opposition
socialist party called for elections
to end four days of protests.
Rows of riot police
with gas masks and shields squared off with
protesters for over an hour outside
parliament before firing teargas to disperse
the crowd. Bands of young protesters,
wearing handkerchiefs against the gas,
regrouped to throw stones at police and
chanted: "Let parliament burn!"
In the outskirts of
Athens, more than 5,000 people
dressed in black gathered at a funeral for
the 15-year-old boy whose shooting by police
on Saturday has triggered
Greece's worst
riots in decades. Many chanted:
"Cops, Pigs, Murderers."
The killing touched
a raw nerve among young Greeks, angry at
years of
political scandals and rising levels
of poverty and unemployment, worsened by the
global economic downturn.
Prime Minister
Costas Karamanlis, whose party has a one
seat majority, held emergency talks with
opposition leaders to urge them to unite
against the riots. He appealed to unions to
cancel a protest rally during a 24-hour
strike scheduled for Wednesday.
Both requests were
quickly rejected by leftist union leaders
and politicians who say the government's
reforms have worsened conditions for the
one-fifth of
Greeks below the poverty line.
"The government has
lost people's trust," said the leader of the
socialist
opposition party, George Papandreou.
"The only thing this government can offer is
to resign and turn to the people for its
verdict."
In the northern
cities of
Thessaloniki and Ioannina, protestors
clashed with police and set fire to rubbish
containers. Greek demonstrators occupied the
country's consulate in Paris, following
protests in
London and
Berlin on Monday.
Many of the
demonstrators in central Athens belonged
neither to the anarchist nor the student
elements most in evidence over the last few
days.
One man in a
business suit running from gas outside
parliament shouted: "They have to go!"
"I am here because
I have a feeling that something is
happening, something is changing in
society," said Thodoros Adamopoulos, 53, a
private businessman.
Protests have swept
more than 10 cities across the
European Union member state of 11
million people, including the tourist
islands of Crete and Corfu. Hundreds of
buildings have been wrecked or burned and
more than 50 people injured.
One policeman has
been charged with murder over Alexandros
Grigoropoulos's shooting. Police said the
officer fired three warning shots after
their car was attacked by 30 youths on
Saturday but witnesses said he took aim.
At the funeral for
Grigoropoulos, mourners applauded as his
white coffin decked with flowers was carried
through the crowd. Outside the cemetery,
police fired teargas at demonstrators who
replied with fire bombs.
Greek media
criticized Karamanlis's failure to contain
the rioters. "Flames Rage As
The Government Looks On," the daily
newspaper
Kathimerini said.
Police have
arrested some 200 people, some for looting,
during the protests but have tried to avoid
direct fighting which might worsen tensions,
police officials say.
Greece has a tradition of violence at
student rallies and fire bomb attacks by
anarchist groups, which have heightened
tensions with police. Many people on the
streets compared the current protests to a
1973 student uprising which helped topple a
military junta.
More than 130 shops
have been destroyed in the capital, dashing
retailers' hopes that
Christmas would compensate for
Greece's darkening economic outlook. Youths
set fire to a large
Christmas tree in central Athens on
Monday night.
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|
Monday the
08th of December
2008
|
Third day of
anti-police riots across Greece
ATHENS (AFP) – Fury at
the fatal police shooting of a schoolboy
erupted in a third day of rioting across
Greece on Monday, with youths looting
stores, attacking hotels and clashing with
the security forces by parliament.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis
called a cabinet crisis meeting late Monday
after having vowed to bring the unrest under
control.
In the streets
meanwhile, riot police were pelted with
stones by a group of some 300 youths outside
parliament and in the northern city of
Salonika a policeman was wounded in a
firebomb attack.
With a general
strike now planned to protest the killing of
15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos on
Saturday, the damage to businesses and the
country's reputation as a tourist
destination was steadily rising.
Youths attacked
cars and looted dozens of stores in Salonika,
Greece's second largest city, and clashes
broke out in the central city of
Trikala.
The unrest also
spread to the popular resort islands of
Rhodes where police fired tear gas at
protesting pupils and
Crete where police buildings were
pelted with stones.
There were even
scuffles and two arrests outside the Greek
embassies in London and the Cypriot capital
Nicosia.
As despairing
traders sifted through the wreckage left by
weekend rioting, Caramanlis appeared on
national television to denounce "the
extremist elements who exploited the tragedy.
"The unacceptable
and dangerous events cannot and will not be
tolerated," added Caramanlis.
A government
spokesman denied rumours that a state of
emergency would be declared.
The unrest has now
left dozens wounded, caused widespread
destruction and put new pressure on
Karamanlis, already under fire over the
economy and a number of scandals.
Some of the worst
violence came in Trikala where three police
were hurt in clashes when dozens of youths
broke off from a larger student
demonstration and attacked banks, shops and
cars on the city's main square.
About 300 students
and other youths also attacked cars and
stores in Salonika, where a
police officer was hospitalised with
a hand injury after a firebomb attack on his
station.
Police rapidly lost
control of a night-time protest in central
Salonika where scores of stores were looted
by youths.
In
Athens, firefighters were called to
24 banks, 35 stores, 24 cars, 12 homes and a
district office of the ruling New Democracy
party hit by a small bomb. Six
police vehicles were also destroyed.
Protestors also set
fire to the lobby of the Hotel Athens Plaza
on central
Syntagma Square and the Christmas
tree on display there which was supposed to
have been lit in a ceremony on Sunday.
Late Monday,
rioters kept up a cat-and-mouse chase with
police through the streets of the Greek
capital. Hooded and helmeted youths
penetrated as far as the plush district of
Kolonaki, smashing stores a short distance
from the Mexican embassy and the British
Council before retreating anew.
Riot police
responded with heavy discharges of tear gas,
sending clouds billowing over the Athens sky.
"Police waged
defensive action to avoid head-to-head
clashes and avoid further loss of life,"
said the ruling party's general secretary,
Lefteris Zagoritis, told state
television NET.
"Glass is
important, but life more so," he said.
Several
universities in Athens and Salonika were
ordered closed for two days from Monday, and
Greece's education minister said high
schools would also remain closed on Tuesday
in tribute to the slain boy.
Pupils plan a rally
in the capital on Tuesday and a general
strike planned for Wednesday has become a
new focus for the
radical left to show its anger.
Greek police have arrested two
officers involved in the shooting of the
teenager in the Athens district of Exarchia
on Saturday.
Grigoropoulos was
among youths who had allegedly thrown stones
at a
police car. One of the two officers
left his vehicle to fire three times at the
teenager, who was hit in the chest,
witnesses said. Grigoropoulos was confirmed
dead in a nearby hospital.
Epaminondas
Korkoneas, 37, who allegedly fired the shots,
was detained on suspicion of homicide while
his partner Vassilis Saraliotis, 31, was
arrested as an accessory.
Ballistics results
are expected by Tuesday.
The violence is the
worst to hit
Greece in decades.
Exarchia is a
bohemian neighbourhood near central Athens
that is considered an anarchist stronghold
and as such is rarely patrolled by uniformed
police.
In 1985 another
15-year-old pupil, Michalis Kaltezas, was
shot by a
police officer, triggering violent
clashes with the police in Exarchia.
Exarchia was also
the scene of major
student protests in 1973, which led
to the fall of the country's
military dictatorship in 1974.
|
|
Sunday the
07th of December 2008
|
Police-protester clashes
fuel violence in Greece
ATHENS - Hundreds of
youths angered by the fatal police shooting of a
teenager rampaged through Greece’s two largest
cities for a second day Sunday in some of the worst
rioting the country has seen in years.
Gangs smashed stores, torched
cars and erected burning barricades in the streets
of Athens and Thessaloniki. Riot police clashed with
groups of mostly self-styled anarchists throwing
Molotov cocktails, rocks and bottles. Clouds of tear
gas hung in the air, sending passers-by scurrying
for cover.
Rioting in several cities,
including Hania in Crete and cities in northern
Greece, began within hours of the death Saturday
night of a 15-year-old shot by police in Athens’
Exarchia district, a downtown hub of bars, music
clubs and restaurants. Soon, stores, banks and cars
were ablaze.
The two officers involved
in Saturday’s shooting have been arrested and
charged, one with premeditated manslaughter and the
illegal use of a weapon, the other as an accomplice.
They are to appear before a court Wednesday. They
and the Exarchia precinct police chief have been
suspended.
Police said the two
officers involved claim they were attacked by a
group of youths. One fired three shots; the other
threw a stun grenade.
Violence broke out again
Sunday afternoon in Athens and Thessaloniki during
demonstrations to protest the shooting.
Police said 37 officers
were injured in riots from late Saturday through
Sunday in Athens; seven people were arrested and 15
were detained during that time.
Violence is not unheard of
between riot police and anarchists, whose movement
has roots in resistance to Greece’s 1967-1974
military dictatorship.
|
|
Wednesday the 05th of November
2008
|
A
selection of the front pages of Greek national papers covering
Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. Presidential election is seen in
Athens, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008.
|
|
Thursday the 28th of October
2008
|
Greek
national day
Greek sailors are
seen during an annual military parade in
the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki
on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008. Oct. 28 is a
national holiday in Greece, marking the
anniversary of the country's refusal of
a 1940 ultimatum made by Italy's Fascist
leader Benito Mussolini to allow his
forces to enter and occupy Greek
territory. The action marked the start
of Greece's military participation in
World War II.
|
|
Thursday the 21st of October
2008
 |
Strike brings Greece to
a halt
Air, rail and ferry traffic ground to a halt across Greece yesterday and
public offices shut down as workers walked off the job in a general
strike to protest the conservative government's economic policies.
Riot police fired tear gas to disperse a small
group of rock-throwing hooded youths as thousands of demonstrators
marched through central Athens. Many shops along the demonstration route
rolled down their shutters, and only minor damage was reported.
State hospitals functioned with emergency staff
while state schools, universities, post offices and tax offices were
closed, as were many banks.
Some 200 domestic and international flights
were cancelled while all ferries were confined to port and the state
railway company cancelled most train services. Lawyers, journalists and
civil engineers were also on strike.
GSEE, Greece's largest union, called the strike
to protest at legislation reforming the country's pension system. The
new law, passed in March, cuts early retirement rights and merges
lucrative pension funds with troubled ones.
Unions also demand more state social spending,
as well as salary and pension increases, and oppose the government's
privatisation plans
|
|
Thursday the 02nd of
October
2008
 |
Discovery
of a mycenaen tomb containing a sword coming from Italy
Greek archaeologists discovered, in the tomb of a mycenaen
warrior , more than 3.000 years, a sword with a handle
covered with gold coming from the Italian peninsula,
indicated a Greek archaeologist.
“It is about a very rare discovery because mainly of the
layer of gold recovering the handle”, declared in AFP the
archaeologist Maria Gatsi.
“No sword of this kind has found in Greece”, added Mrs.
Gatsi, chief of the archaeological department of
Aitoloacarnania, in the west of Greece.
Tests of laboratory in Austria confirmed that the bronze
used for the sword, long, 94 cm dated from the 12th century
BC and came from the Italian peninsula.
The tomb was discovered in July 2007 with the locality
Kouvara Phyteion, close to the town of Amphilochia, in the
west of Athens, lasting of work of excavations for the
construction of the motorway bordering the sea Ionienne.
The archaeologists also put at the day in the same tomb one
second bronze sword with a handle in bone, a pair of
leggings, an arrow, a lance, a cut with wine (kylix) out of
gold, a cauldron with three feet out of bronze and an iron
and bronze scraping-knife, a very rare discovery also
because of the combination of two metals.
“Our first assumption is that it is about the tomb of a
warrior”, said Mrs. Gatsi.
This discovery confirms that Mycéniens traded with other
ages of the Mediterranean basin.
Conquerors of the Minoan world in Crete (southern), Mycenaen
dominated between 17th and 12th centuries before Christ most
of Greece, establishing colonies in minor Asia and in Cyprus.
|
|
Tuesday the 23rd of September
2008
Culture Minister Michalis Liapis
Italy's President Giorgio
Napolitano looks at an ancient carved marble artefact during his visit
to National Archaeological Museum in Athens |
Italy returns long
lost Parthenon fragment to Greece
ATHENS (AFP) - Italy
has returned to
Greece the 'Palermo fragment', a marble
piece of the Athens Parthenon missing for nearly
200 years, officials said Tuesday.
The sculpted fragment
of the
ancient Greek hunt goddess Artemis, part
of the eastern
Parthenon frieze depicting the twelve
gods of Olympus, had been in the collection of
the Antonio Salinas Archaeological Museum of
Palermo.
Greece had sought to
secure its return for 13 years, the Greek
culture minister said.
The fragment depicts
the goddess' right foot and part of her long
robe.
"For the first time in
nearly two centuries, a valuable fragment of the
Parthenon's sculpted decoration returns to be
embodied where it belongs," Culture Minister
Michalis Liapis told reporters.
The fragment was
brought back on loan by
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who
is on an official visit to Greece, and will be
restored to the frieze on Wednesday.
It had been removed by
Lord Elgin, the
19th century British ambassador to the
Ottoman Empire occupying Greece at the time, and
given to the British consul-general of Sicily in
1816, Napolitano's cultural advisor Louis Godart
told reporters.
Elgin also took to
Britain a large collection of sculptures
from the iconic 5th BCE temple known as the
Parthenon Marbles which Greece has campaigned to
have returned from the
British Museum in London for decades.
"Greece aspires to
bring back the Parthenon Marbles, so you can
understand the contribution and importance of
such a gesture,"
Greek President Karolos Papoulias told
reporters after meeting with Napolitano.
The British Museum has
long refused to repatriate the friezes but the
Greeks have lately had more success in securing
claims from other museums and collections,
including the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles
and the Shelby White collection in New York.
A number of these items
are part of a landmark exhibit of over 70 Greek
and Italian antiquities reclaimed from foreign
museums and collections in recent years which
Napolitano will inaugurate on Wednesday.
"This is the first time
these antiquities are seen abroad after going on
display at the Quirinale Palace (last year),"
Godart said.
Two more Parthenon
fragments held by the
Vatican will return to Greece on October
8, he added.
The joint exhibit at
the
New Acropolis Museum runs to December 31.
|
|
Wednesday the 17th of September
2008
|
The European
Union approved Greece's plan to
privatize loss-making Olympic Airlines
ATHENS, Greece, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The European
Commission has approved a Greek government plan to rescue Olympic
Airways, Greece's troubled national carrier, a Greek minister said.
Transport Minister Costis Hatzidakis said the government's plan included
a "major structural intervention" concerning the airline's problem that
"permanently solves an issue that has occupied Greek society and the
political system for the past 30 years," Athens News Agency reported.
Hatzidakis said the new air carrier would be privatized, offering job
security for its workforce. The plan also will provide for closing the
existing debt-ridden company, with simultaneously setting up procedures
to establish a new company managed by private investors.
The new company will keep the Olympic Airways name and logo, its
profitable routs and airport slots in Greek and international airports,
the news agency said.. |
|
Tuesday the 16th of September
2008
|
New Accropolis museum would open in February
or March 2009 Culture Minister
Michalis Liapis was in the ancient sculptures at the New Acropolis
Museum in Athens, Greece, on Tuesday Sept. 16, 2008. Liapis inspected
the progress of works at the museum, which he said would open in
February or March, some 6 months behind schedule, without explaining
reasons for the delay.
All the ancient finds from the Acropolis will be displayed in the new
building, where Greece eventually hopes to host the Elgin Marbles,
currently held at the British Museum in London.
|
|
Wednesday the 03rd of
September
2008
George Alogoskoufis
|
Greece says to invest 2.1 bln euros to
upgrade telecom network
ATHENS (AFP) - Greece wants to invest in a new fibre optic network that
will drastically upgrade its broadband and cable television capabilities,
the Greek economy and telecoms ministers said on Wednesday.
"We have decided to invest as a country in a modern fibre optic network
that will change the daily life of Greek citizens," Economy Minister
George Alogoskoufis told a news conference.
The seven-year project estimated to cost 2.1 billion euros (three
billion dollars) will provide high-definition TV, video telephony,
quicker Internet connections and other high-bandwidth services,
Alogoskoufis said.
It will be developed through a public-private partnership and is
eligible for funding from the European Investment Bank, he said.
An international tender on the open-access network will be issued in the
second half of 2009, Greek Telecoms Minister Costis Hatzidakis said.
The contract involves the construction, maintenance and operation of a
dark fibre network for 30 years, Hatzidakis said.
An Internet laggard for years, Greece has laboured to increase the
number of high-bandwidth users by slashing subscription prices and
improving connections.
Twelve percent of Greeks currently have access to high-speed Internet,
Alogoskoufis said, compared to 0.1 percent in 2004.
|
|
Wednesday the 30th of July
2008
 |
Ancient Greek Eclipse Calculator Marked
Olympics
An ancient Greek astronomical calculator that showed the positions of
the sun, Earth and the moon, and outshined any known device for 1,000
years after it, also kept track of something more mundane: when the next
Olympics would take place.
And its design just might have sprung from the skull of the brilliant
scientist Archimedes.
Researchers have pried these and a few other fresh secrets from the
corroded bronze fragments of the Antikythera mechanism, a clockwork-like
assemblage discovered in 1901 by Greek sponge divers off the Greek
island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete.
Members of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project (AMRP) and their
colleagues used data from high-resolution, 360-degree x-ray scans to
decipher markings as small as 0.06 inch (1.7 millimeters) tall on a
spiral dial on the rear of the instrument. The five-twist spiral is
inscribed with 235 sets of markings believed to indicate the months in a
19-year calendar.
Known as the Metonic calendar, people have used it since Babylonian
times to account for the fact that 12 lunar months add up to only 354
days—11 days shy of a solar year. (Gears located behind the dial face
would have moved a pointer like the minute hand on a clock to refer a
user to particular markings on the dial.)
Writing in Nature, the team was able for the first time to read the
names of the months on the dial, which match those of calendars once
used in the Corinthian colonies of northwestern Greece, suggesting that
the mechanism was built in the area.
Seven of the month names match a calendar used in a part of Sicily
believed founded by settlers from Syracuse in the fourth century B.C.
Syracuse was home to Archimedes, the polymath who in one apocryphal
story leaped from leaped from a bath shouting, "Eureka!" (I have it)
after figuring out how to tell if a royal crown was made of solid gold
by submerging it in water and measuring the water it displaced.
Researchers assume that the Antikythera mechanism, built in
approximately 150 to 100 B.C., sank on its way from the Greek island of
Rhodes to Rome, then a major trading route. Although Archimedes died in
212 B.C., too early to have built the Antikythera mechanism, the Roman
philosopher Cicero attributes a device to Archimedes that was similar to
it.
"There's a chance that it's a kind of descendent of his invention,"
study author Alexander Jones, a historian of ancient science at the
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University,
says.
Whatever purpose Archimedes may have had in mind for his instrument,
Jones says the use of the Corinthian calendar indicates that the
Antikythera mechanism was not built for scientists. Instead it may have
been for teaching nonspecialists about astronomy.
Bolstering that interpretation, the researchers discovered that the
markings on a smaller dial inside the Metonic one spelled out the
locations of the names of Panhellenic games, the highly popular sporting
events of which the most famous is the Olympics.
The games were on a four-year cycle, and each quarter turn of the dial
indicated which games took place that year in the cycle. "That's
something of no scientific interest. That's of human, social interest,"
Jones says.
One of the things the mechanism was well-suited to teach was the
predictability of eclipses—the apparent task of a second, four-twist
spiral dial on the instrument's back.
Its 223 divisions correspond to months in the Saros cycle, another
ancient calendar system—this one an 18-year cycle—for tracking eclipses.
Of these divisions, researchers had previously identified 16 that were
marked with glyphs, or sets of characters, indicating solar and lunar
eclipses. The team increased that number by two to 18.
The pattern of glyphs was highly accurate: it matched the start dates of
100 eclipses that occurred during the final four centuries BC, as
determined by NASA. "We could start the dial at any of these dates and
all the known glyphs would exactly match actual eclipses," says study
author Tony Freeth of Cardiff, Wales, a former mathematician and member
of the AMRP.
The device seems to have fallen short, however, in predicting the exact
hour of an eclipse. An inner dial is divided into three sections that
may have specified the number of hours to add to the eclipse time marked
on the glyph.
But the authors were unable to figure out a way to make the times match
those of the eclipses calculated by NASA. They suspect that the device's
maker used an imprecise method for calculating those times.
The shortcoming does not diminish the brilliance of the Antikythera
mechanism, which "has at its heart a real genius about it," Freeth says.
Of particular ingenuity, he says, is a pin and slot mechanism involved
in the front side of the instrument, which shows the positions of sun,
Earth and moon.
Freeth and his colleagues reported two years ago that the pin and slot
were used to account for variations in the speed of the moon in the sky.
One can almost hear the inventor of that little trick shouting, "Eureka!"
|
|
Sunday the 27th of July
2008
 |
Greek firefighters tame Rhodes
blaze after six days
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek fire-fighters on Sunday tamed a six-day-old
blaze on the holiday island of Rhodes that destroyed thousands of acres
of pristine forest and forced the evacuation of villagers and tourists.
More than 200 fire-fighters joined 100 soldiers, 300
civil protection members and volunteers to battle the inferno that
destroyed at least 10,000 acres of forest on the Aegean island off the
coast of Turkey, officials said.
"The forest fires are now under control, but we are still
on alert in case another front opens up suddenly," a fire brigade
official who declined to be named told Reuters. "There have been no
reports of any injuries.
At the height of the blaze France, Italy, Cyprus and the
European Union sent equipment and planes to assist 10 fire-fighting
planes and seven helicopters sent to the fronts by Greek authorities.
The Rhodes fire was the worst and latest of more than 100
wildfires ravaging Greece this summer and reawakened memories of a
10-day inferno last year that killed 65 people and led the country into
a state of emergency.
Some hotels near the fires evacuated tourists as
precautionary measures on Friday, but they were returned to their hotels
on Saturday and Sunday and there were no reports of cancellations.
"We evacuated about 1,000 tourists because of the amount
of smoke in the vicinity, at no point in time was anyone in danger,"
Spyros Efstathopoulos, general secretary of Greece's tourism ministry
told reporters.
"There are currently about 100,000 tourists on Rhodes
right now and no hotel has reported to us that they have had
cancellations," Efstathopoulos said. "Everyone is getting on with their
holidays."
|
|
Tuesday the 15th of July
2008
|
Forest fire rages north of Athens
ATHENS (AFP) - Greek firefighters struggled
Tuesday to contain a major forest fire that broke out northwest of
Athens and was being fanned by strong winds, the fire service said.
More than 280 firefighters and 51 trucks were battling the blaze near
Beotie, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital. They were being
helped by 11 planes and three helicopters.
The flames have not endangered any built-up areas apart from the village
of Panakton and a monastery, but firefighters succeeded in heading off
the danger.
By early evening the fire was burning on two fronts in the Oinoi region.
Wildfires are a major concern in Greece every summer.
In August 2007, 77 people died in fires that ravaged the Peloponnese
peninsula and the island of Evia, destroying 270,000 hectares (666,000
acres) of forest and farm land.
This year the risk is once again high due to a lack of rain and high
temperatures.
At the weekend, a fire on the Aegean island of Skyros destroyed around
600 hectares (nearly 1,500 acres) of pine trees.
|
|
Tuesday the 15th of July
2008
|
Quake hits off Greek island of Rhodes, one
killed ATHENS (Reuters) - One
person was killed in an accident after a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck
off the island of Rhodes in southeast Greece, officials said on Tuesday,
but there were no other reports of casualties or damage.
The quake occurred about 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of the island in
the Aegean sea, at a depth of about 13 km (8 miles), the Athens
Geodynamic Institute said.
"One woman was killed after she tripped and hit her head as she tried to
leave her house in a panic when the earthquake struck," Panagiotis
Efstathiou, head of the National Health Operations Centre told
reporters.
"It is an unfortunate event, but apart from that, there have been no
other injuries reported."
The early morning quake awoke people in Rhodes and sent hundreds out
into the streets, officials said. Police said there was no reported
damage to buildings, but that emergency services were on alert.
One hotel was evaluated as a precaution.
"Earthquakes are a frequent event, so evacuations are part of the normal
procedure. The important thing to say is that all tourists are
completely safe and well," Babis Paliogiannidis, a board member of the
Rhodes hoteliers association said.
Two people were killed and scores injured by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake
that struck near the western port city of Patras last month but most
tremors in Greece, Europe's most seismic country, do not cause serious
damage.
Officials cautioned against panic after the Rhodes quake.
"This was most likely the major quake and there will be more aftershocks
to follow, which are not really a cause for concern," said Geodynamic
Institute chief George Stavrakakis.
|
|
Tuesday the 08th of July
2008
 |
Power cuts expected as heat wave hits Greece
Authorities are appealing for Greeks to limit
their power consumption as this year's first heat wave pushes demand for
electricity to near record levels.
Temperatures are expected to reach 41 degrees Celsius (105.8 Fahrenheit)
Tuesday and Wednesday. Greece's power company had warned of potential
power cuts as the use of air conditioning increased energy demand.
Electricity authorities say nationwide energy consumption was expected
to approach record levels.
The Health Ministry has warned the elderly and those with breathing
problems to limit the time they spend outdoors, while municipalities are
opening air conditioned facilities to the public.
Temperatures are forecast to fall by Wednesday night.
|
|
Friday the 20th of June
2008
|
Greece wildfire uncontrolled, causing
extensive damages
A major forest fire
that broke out in Lagomandra, Kalamos in northern Attica, Greece was
continuing to blaze unchecked on Friday, causing extensive damages,
according to Athens News Agency reports.
Deployed against the blaze on Friday afternoon were 78 fire fighters
with 26 vehicles, 32 fire men on foot, six aeroplanes, three helicopters
and 15 water-tanker vehicles sent by surrounding municipalities to help
the fire fighting effort.
The fire has so far caused extensive damage to at least one home in the
area and the flames have passed through the yards of other houses. The
flames were heading toward the beach but fire fighters said they were
being hampered in their efforts by strong winds that frequently changed
direction.
The traffic police have closed off roads leading into the area in a
broad span around the fire so that fire engines can move around more
easily.
On the occasion of the above incidents and on the basis of the forecasts
made by the General Secretariat of Political Protection, Attica and
Boeotia are running a high risk for fires. Thus, civilians are advised
to especially careful when doing outdoor work and in case of fire call
199 immediately.
Severe wild fires occurred in Greece last summer which led to at least
65 people dead and hundreds of people homeless.
|
|
Saturday the 14th of June
2008
Traianos Dellas
Angelos Haristeas (L) and Fanis Gekas
|
Russia knocks out holders Greece at Euro
2008 SALZBURG, June 15 (RIA
Novosti) - Russia beat Greece 1-0 in their Group D match on Saturday,
knocking the holders out of Euro 2008.
Konstantin Zyryanov scored the winner in the
33rd minutes after Sergei Semak's overhead pass.
Greece, surprise winners at the European
Championship in Portugal four years ago, have lost their first two
matches and are eliminated before their final game. Spain are now top in
Group D with six points while Russia and Sweden who meet in their final
match on Wednesday have three points each.
|
|
Tuesday the 10th of June
2008
Traianos Dellas
(L) and Sotiris Kyrgiakos
Giourkas
Seitaridis,
left,
and
Giorgos
Karagounis
|
Sweden beats
titleholder Greece 2-0
In a match that had viewers dozing off in front of their
TV sets, the Swedes downed reigning European champions
Greece, 2-0. The Greeks played their typical
conservative game -- this time it didn't work.
The
Greeks under German coach Otto Rehhagel won Euro
2004 by disrupting opponents' play and waiting for
mistakes, and that was exactly the way they started
their 2008 campaign.
Spectators in Salzburg's Wals-Siezenheim Stadium
were already booing after ten minutes, as it became
clear just how much of a slog this match would be.
The
lone highlight of the first half came in the 34th
minute, when Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovich
head narrowly over the crossbar with his back to the
goal.
The
second half initially brought little improvement --
with the Greeks almost taking an undeserved lead in
the 66th minute after Swedish defender Petter
Hansson nearly headed an ill-advised clearance into
his own goal.
But
one minute later, with a goalless draw looking
inevitable, Sweden had a moment of inspiration.
Ibrahimovich used a combination with strike partner
Henrik Larsson to open up space around 16 meters
from goal, and he fired a rocket into the upper
right-hand corner of the net.
It
was Sweden's first shot on goal in the entire match
-- and simultaneously the game winner.
Greece, who had not conceded a goal in the European
Championship for more than 420 minutes, were forced
to emerge from their defensive shell, but they
failed to create any clear chances.
Instead, in the 72nd minute, Larsson maneuvered
himself into a 1-on-1 situation against Greek keeper
Antonis Nikopolidis.
|
|
Sunday the 08th of June
2008
|
Strong earthquake hits Greece; 2 dead
ATHENS, Greece - A strong
earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5
struck southwestern
Greece on Sunday, killing at least two
people, injuring more than 100 and leveling
dozens of homes, authorities said.
It was Greece's first
fatal earthquake since 1999, when a 5.9
magnitude quake near
Athens killed 143 people and left
thousands homeless.
Sunday's quake struck
at 3:25 p.m. near the port city of
Patras, about 120 miles west of Athens in
the northwestern
Peloponnese, the Athens Geodynamic
Institute said. It was felt as far away as
southern Italy.
Two people were killed
and 120 were injured,
Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos
said. By nightfall, six of the injured remained
hospitalized.
One man was killed by a
falling pergola outside his home in Kato Ahaia,
a village near the epicenter, while a woman who
had only been slightly injured in the quake died
later in the hospital of a heart attack,
Pavlopoulos said.
"My thoughts in these
hours are with our fellow citizens who are
suffering," Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis
said in a statement from
Vienna, Austria, where he was on a
three-day visit. "I want to
stress and underline that the state will
be at (their) side."
Karamanlis was to cut
his visit to Austria short and return to Greece
on Monday.
Frequent aftershocks
rattled already frightened residents, and
seismologists urged caution, particularly around
buildings damaged in the initial quake.
"We are watching the
seismic activity with great attention. We are
not yet certain that the danger is completely
over," said Athens Geodynamic Institute director
Gerasimos Papadopoulos.
Although it was
unlikely there would be a stronger quake, he
said, "there is still concern."
With dozens of houses
destroyed or severely damaged, the government
said it would give $4,680 to anyone who had lost
their primary home in the quake. Authorities
also said they would set up tents for those left
homeless and distribute food.
Military helicopters
and transport planes, and a specialized
Air Force rescue crew were placed on
standby, the National Defense General Staff said.
Teams of rescuers from
17 Balkan and Mediterranean countries who had
just arrived in Greece for a disaster response
training exercise joined in rescue efforts.
The quake damaged the
air traffic control tower of the
Andravida military airport, but a secondary
tower was being used and the airport remained
open, the general staff said.
Two families — seven
people in total — were rescued after being
trapped in houses that collapsed, one in the
village of Fostaina, about 20 miles south of
Patras, the other in the village of
Vartholomio, authorities said.
Television footage
showed rescue crews pulling a 9-year-old girl
from beneath the rubble of her house in Fostaina
after a two-hour rescue effort and placing her
on a stretcher. The girl suffered only slight
injuries.
"I have seen nothing
like that in my lifetime," an 88-year-old woman
in Kato Ahaia, told state-run NET television. "When
the earthquake began, I was in bed. I tried to
leave but fell down. I crawled on my knees to
the front door."
She said neighbors got
her out of the house.
Hours after the quake,
terrified residents stayed away from their
homes, gathering in village squares and outdoor
coffee shops. Local authorities cordoned off
unsafe buildings, and ordered all schools in the
area to remain shut Monday.
The Tourism Ministry
and
Greek tourist board said no damage had
been reported in any of the area's hotels and
that no tourists had been hurt.
The interior minister
said the damage was relatively light.
The fire service said a
landslide cut off part of the Corinth to Patras
highway.
The
U.S. Geological Survey gave a preliminary
magnitude of 6.1 for the quake, while the Athens
Geodynamic Institute gave a preliminary
magnitude of 6.5.
Magnitudes often vary in the first hours
or days after an earthquake.
Greece is one of the world's most
earthquake-prone countries, but most quakes
cause no injuries.
|
|
Friday the 6th of June 2008
 |
Sarkozy discusses EU and immigration in Greece
ATHENS (AFP) -
French President Nicolas Sarkozy
used a visit to Athens on Friday to highlight immigration issues, defend
the EU's Lisbon Treaty, and boost bilateral defence cooperation with his
ally Greece."This
treaty is not perfect but it puts 10 years of institutional debate to
rest,"
Sarkozy
said in an address to the Greek parliament at the start of a brief
official trip.
But even when the treaty
is ratified, Sarkozy noted, this will not end an ongoing "crisis"
between the European Union and Europeans themselves.
"This will only come when
we show to the Greeks, and the French, that Europe is there to protect
them and not to worry them," the
French president
said in a speech in which he hailed Franco-Greek ties to applause from
Greek MPs.
"This is why immigration
will be among (our) priorities."
Sarkozy later said he supported a "European border guard system,"
speaking alongside Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis at a news
conference.
"We cannot let the
countries at Europe's borders on their own guard the borders which, once
breached, concern all the countries at the heart of Europe," Sarkozy
said.
"I am very interested by
Greek suggestions such as a joint French and Greek system of coast guard
patrol boats."
The two leaders also announced in a joint statement that they had signed
a "strategic security and defence partnership" for military cooperation
which "will strengthen Europe's defence and the Atlantic alliance."
Situated on the EU's
southeastern gateway and with an extended coastline, Greece has been
pushing the recently-expanded bloc for more financial assistance to deal
with a tide of immigration in recent years.
Greek police in
2007 arrested around 112,000 clandestine
immigrants,
according to the interior ministry.
Sarkozy's visit to Greece -- the first by a French head of state in more
than 25 years -- is one stop on a round of European capitals before
France takes over the rotating European Union presidency on July 1.
The Lisbon Treaty
has to be agreed by all 27 EU member states, with
Ireland
the only member putting it to a referendum, next week. A recent poll put
the 'no' camp marginally in the lead in Ireland, a result which would
throw the ratification process into disarray.
Greece's parliament is
expected to ratify the treaty soon.
Sarkozy's address to the Greek parliament was a rare honour only
accorded to three foreign presidents in the past: his predecessor
Charles de Gaulle and US presidents Dwight D Eisenhower and
George Bush,
senior.
Sarkozy is popular in
Greece as his maternal grandfather hailed from the northern port city of
Salonika.
He will fly on to Beirut on Saturday for talks with Lebanese President
Michel Sleimane and other Lebanese political leaders.
|
|
Sunday the 24th of May 2008
|
Russia’s Dima beats Greece’s
diva into 3rd
Greece secured third place in Saturday’s
Eurovision Song Contest final with Kalomoira Sarantis’s upbeat pop tune
“Secret Combination” as Russia and Ukraine, two of the favorites,
scooped the top spots.
The performance by Sarantis, 23, before a
20,000-strong audience at Belgrade’s City Hall, amassed 218 points for
Greece, just behind Ukraine’s 230 votes, while Russia swept ahead with
272.
In the early stages of voting Sarantis had been
level with Russia’s 26-year-old pop icon Dima Bilan but the final votes
from former communist bloc countries secured the top spot for Russia and
propelled Ukraine into second place.
Greek commentators criticized bloc voting among
ex-Soviet and former Yugoslav states. But most were happy with the
result for Greece, particularly as many other favorites, including
Sweden, failed to make the top 10 |
|
Sunday the 11th of May 2008
 |
Fuel shortage looms in Greece due to strike
The prospect of
widespread fuel shortages due to an ongoing strike by the owners of
private fuel tanker trucks in Greece is looking increasingly possible,
as petrol stations around the country began to "run dry" on Sunday.
Shortages of unleaded petrol and diesel for motor vehicles were
particularly acute, and drivers both in Attica and elsewhere around
Greece faced the prospect of ending up with empty fuel tanks.
Tanker truck owners, along with owners of other heavy goods vehicles,
have been on strike for a week now in order to demand rate increases by
13 percent in order to cover mounting costs that have soared as a result
of rising oil prices. The government, however, has offered only 5
percent.
The head of the tanker truckers federation has indicated that truckers
are prepared to sit down to talk with the government to work out a
compromise deal.
The tanker truckers' union federation is due to hold its general
assembly on Monday to decide what to do next. If it chooses to extend
the strike, then it is almost certain that there will be serious
problems with fuel shortages, though it is not necessarily limited to
these troubles.
The truckers' strike is also expected to affect the smooth operation of
markets in general, with tons of goods waiting at ports and customs
posts, while several perishable goods may be completely ruined.
Incidents occurred at Iraklion port on Saturday, for example, when
truckers attempted to prevent 20 lorries of produce from boarding a
ferry bound for Piraeus.
Also joining the strike to demand higher fare increases are taxi
drivers, who have called a 24-hour work stoppage beginning at 5 a.m.
(0300 GMT) on Monday to seek a higher increase in fares as against the 5
percent offered by the government, again citing higher costs due to
rising oil prices.
|
|
Saturday the 26th of April 2008
 |
Orthodox Christians
to celebrate Easter event
Eastern Orthodox
Christians will gather tonight in solemn
candlelit processionals as they prepare for the
celebration of Pascha, the Easter celebration
that is the culmination of the liturgical year.
Orthodox Christians —
who number about 1,000 congregants in four
Midlands congregations — base their holy
calendar on the Julian calendar rather than the
Gregorian calendar.
At midnight, they will
break a 40-day Lenten fast from meat and dairy
products, and prepare for Easter Sunday and the
glorious celebration of the resurrection of
Christ.
“That anticipation of
celebration, of breaking the fast is dramatic,”
said the Rev. Gregory Rogers, pastor of St.
Barnabas Orthodox Church in Lexington, an
Antiochian congregation.
The congregation plans
to gather at 10:30 p.m. for the procession
around the church.
“We light candles and
go around the church three times representing
the three days that Christ was in the tomb,” he
said.
On the third circuit,
Rogers said, he will knock at the church door
and seek entry, saying this passage from Psalm
24: “Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be
lifted up, you everlasting doors, that the king
of glory may come in!”
Then somebody inside
the church will reply: “Who is the king of glory?”
Then Rogers said he will answer: “The lord of
hosts. He is the king of glory!”
The divine liturgy will
be repeated at other Midlands orthodox
congregations, including Holy Trinity Greek
Orthodox Church, Holy Apostles Orthodox
Christian Church in West Columbia, and St.
Elizabeth the New Martyr Russian Orthodox Church
in Cayce.
Red eggs, representing
the blood of Christ and the rebirth, serve as
rich symbols of Orthodox Easter and the Paschal
celebration.
They will be handed out
at midnight and some congregants will also share
Easter baskets.
“The spiritual aspect
gets focused on a little more instead of the
Easter Bunny,” said Lillian Mackay, a member of
St. Barnabas. “People will bring their baskets
and have them blessed.”
Although her sons are
grown, she recalled filling baskets for them
with foods that had been off-limits during Lent.
Services Sunday will
culminate a series of Holy Week services. Then,
Orthodox Christians will begin the seven-day
celebration of Bright Week, when they revel in
the joyfulness of the resurrection of Christ.
|
|
Thursday the 03rd of April
2008
Greek
Eleni Mavrou
and Turkish Cypriot
Cemal Bulutoglulari
authorities tore down a barricade Thursday to
reopen the divided capital's Ledra Street
 |
Symbolic crossing set to open in divided
Cyprus
NICOSIA (AFP) - A crossing
point symbolising the decades-old division of
Cyprus is set to open in the heart of the
capital
Nicosia on Thursday, underscoring a new
drive to unify the Mediterranean island.
Temporary barriers were
removed before dawn ahead of the official
opening of Ledra Street, a key thoroughfare that
has been sealed since intercommunal violence
erupted in 1963.
Greek Cypriot conscript
soldiers removed their guardpost and left the
area, to be replaced by police.
Officials from both the
Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities are to
attend a ceremony at around 9:30 am (0630 GMT),
ending a 45-year closure in the heart of the Old
Town of Nicosia, the world's last divided
capital.
Nicosia Mayor Eleni
Mavrou and her counterpart in the north of the
capital, Cemal Bulutoglulari, will attend, along
with representatives from the EU and other
diplomats.
The reopening signals a
new climate of trust on the Mediterranean island
that has been divided since the Turkish invasion
34 years ago, with a top UN official saying he
felt a "palpable sense of momentum" toward a
solution.
Thursday's move was
agreed at a meeting in March between newly
elected Cypriot President Demetris Christofias
and Turkish Cypriot leader
Mehmet Ali Talat, who also agreed to
resume reunification talks in June.
The two sectors stand
less than 100 metres (yards) apart on what is
known in Turkish as Lokmaci Street, and the area
had to be checked for unexploded ordnance from
the 1974 fighting that led to the island's
division.
Buildings also had to
be shored up after decades of neglect.
Turkish Cypriot
authorities tore down their barrier across the
north-south street in 2005, and the Greek
Cypriots followed suit last year.
The buffer zone that
once separated the two communities is now lined
with blue tarpaulins hiding the crumbling
facades.
The Ledra Street
barricades were among the first to be erected
after intercommunal violence flared in 1963.
That led to the arrival the following year of
the UN peacekeepers who have remained ever since.
Ledra Street is at the
heart of Nicosia's old commercial district and,
as such, witnessed incidents that once gave it
the monicker Murder Mile.
During the guerrilla
war against British colonialism that led to
independence in 1960 it was a popular shopping
thoroughfare, and several British soldiers were
shot dead there by pistol-packing freedom
fighters.
Today the street is
still a popular promenade for families with
young children, drawn by fast food restaurants
and ice cream parlours. It also attracts
tourists and south Asian and eastern European
workers, many of whom live in the Old Town.
The move comes after a
three-day visit by top UN official Lynn Pascoe
to advance reunification efforts.
"There is a very
positive tone here in
Cyprus at the moment and a palpable sense
of momentum," Pascoe told reporters on
Wednesday.
"I think Cypriots are
right to have high expectations. I'm encouraged
and I will pass this on to the (UN) secretary
general (Ban
Ki-moon) when I talk with him."
Ledra Street, a
bustling area inside the 600-year-old Venetian
walls, will be the sixth crossing on the island
to open since April 2003 when Turkish Cypriots
for the first time lifted entry curbs for Greek
Cypriots.
It will be the second
crossing point in Nicosia for pedestrians.
Cyprus has been divided
along ethnic lines since 1974 when
Turkey seized its northern third in
response to an
Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup in
Nicosia aimed at uniting the island with
Greece.
A UN plan to reunite
the island failed in 2004 when the Greek
Cypriots voted against it in a referendum,
although the Turkish Cypriots voted
overwhelmingly in favour
|
|
Synday the 30th of March 2008
 |
China to take delivery of Olympic flame amid
tight security, protest fears
ATHENS (AFP) - The
Beijing Games flame is handed over to
China on Sunday in a tightly-guarded
Athens ceremony with Greek authorities
fearing a repetition of anti-Chinese protests
that have dogged the seven-day
Olympic torch relay through
Greece.
Greek police have
imposed unprecedented security with 2,000
officers on patrol around the city as sporadic
protests by pro-Tibetan activists and Greek
leftists were rising along the flame's passage.
Tight restrictions were
also imposed on media coverage of the torch
relay as it entered Athens' legendary
Acropolis on Saturday while the final
Sunday run through Athens was cut short hours
before the flame's delivery to Chinese officials.
"We have changed the
programme,"
Hellenic Olympic Committee spokesman
Tassos Papachristou told AFP.
"The flame will now run
a small distance through the centre of Athens
before (the handover ceremony) at 3:00 pm (1200
GMT)," he said.
Sporadic protests have
erupted along the torch relay route through
Greece this past week.
They began on March 24
in ancient Olympia with three members of press
freedom group
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
disrupting the flame-lighting ceremony, one of
them unfurling a banner with the Olympic rings
replaced by handcuffs behind top Games organiser
Liu Qi as he spoke.
Breaching a massive
security cordon around the small town, a group
of Tibetan activists also staged a street
protest in
Olympia shortly after.
Protesters also tried
to demonstrate later in the week as the flame
entered the Greek cities of Salonika and Volos
but were prevented to do so by police.
Police stopped 20
demonstrators putting up a banner in Volos,
central Greece, arresting one person, while
about 10 Danish activists were also blocked
around 70 kilometres (45 miles) outside the
neighbouring city of
Larissa.
Greek leftists were
prevented from raising a banner in Athens
Saturday.
China has come under increasing
international pressure over its crackdown on
protesters in the Tibetan capital
Lhasa and Chinese provinces bordering the
Himalayan region.
Tibetan activist groups
have put the death toll from weeks of unrest at
135-140 Tibetans. China says rioters killed 18
civilians and two police officers.
At a press conference
on Saturday, the general secretary of the
Beijing Games organising committee Wang
Wei insisted the unrest was "orchestrated".
"People have not been
given the truth...the truth is that the turmoil,
the
riots, were orchestrated by a small group
of people," Wei said, adding that any violence
against monks took place in protests outside
China's borders.
"If some small
minority...a super minority want to demonstrate
this is their problem, it is not the Olympians'
problem," said
Hellenic Olympic Committee chairman Minos
Kyriakou.
As the flame entered
Athens on Saturday, a few dozen members of
Tibetan human rights groups and Falungong -- a
spiritual movement outlawed in China -- staged a
peaceful protest beneath the
Acropolis against the Chinese clampdown
in Tibet and the holding of the
Olympics in Beijing in August.
Media were banned from
the Acropolis during the flame's arrival
Saturday.
"Our intention is not
to stop people from demonstrating but to avoid
having an incident that disrupts the torch relay,"
said HOC spokesman Papachristou.
A police convoy and a
dedicated guard of runners has accompanied the
flame on its seven-day trek through
Greece.
A crowd of around
20,000 people is expected later Sunday at the
formal handover at Athens' all-marble
Panathinaiko Stadium, where the first modern
Olympics were held in 1896.
Spectators will be
searched on entry and all banners, signs or
objects that could be thrown will be confiscated,
police said.
The torch's journey to
Beijing is the longest ever, lasting 130 days
and covering 137,000 kilometres (85,000 miles)
worldwide. Most of it will be on Chinese soil.
|
|
Monday the 24th of March 2008
The Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou
|
Protest mars Beijing torch lighting ceremony
Human rights demonstrators breached tight security and tried to hijack
the Beijing Olympic torch lighting ceremony in ancient Olympia yesterday.
In a globally televised ceremony to mark the start of a five-month torch
relay, the actress Maria Nafpliotou playing the high priestess used a
break in the clouds to light the torch in front of the Temple of Hera.
However, just before the torch-lighting ceremony inside the
archeological site that played host to the Olympics in ancient Greece,
three demonstrators managed to break a tight police cordon.
One of them, carrying a black banner with five interlocked handcuffs in
the pattern of the Olympics rings, approached Beijing
Games chief Liu Qi during his speech in front
of hundreds of officials but was quickly led away by police before
unfolding it.
Liu failed to get distracted by the commotion and continued his speech,
while television footage immediately cut away from the incident.
"The Olympic flame will radiate light and happiness, peace and
friendship, and hope and dreams to the people of China and the whole
world," Liu told the assembled crowd.
Police said that three men had so far been arrested and would be charged
with breaching the peace. Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders
said three of its members had tried to stage the protest.
"If the Olympic flame is sacrificed, human rights are even more so," the
group said on its website.
"We cannot let the Chinese government seize the Olympic flame, a symbol
of peace without condemning the dramatic human rights situation."
Reporters Without Borders secretary general Robert Menard unfurled a
second black banner from the VIP area where he was seated.
Relay protests
Protests also followed the first few runners of the relay, with several
demonstrators briefly holding up the runners, when they lay in front of
the convoy of cars.
Others wore Free Tibet T-shirts and a large banner was hanging from one
of the buildings along the main street through Olympia.
Exiled Tibetans had pledged to demonstrate on the day against China's
security crackdown in the region and what they say is the IOC's
hesitance to pressure Beijing to improve its human rights record.
Police said an additional 25 protesters had attempted to come in but a
strong police presence kept them at bay before they dispersed.
Greek athlete Alexandros Nikolaidis, an Athens 2004 Games taekwondo
silver medallist, was the first torchbearer starting a six-day Greek
relay before the flame is handed over to the Chinese on March 30.
China's only Athens 2004 Games swimming gold medallist Luo Xuejuan was
the second runner.
The flame then starts a long international and Chinese relay that will
include Tibet and the peak of Mount Everest before ending in Beijing on
August 8 when the Games officially open.
"I express here the hope that the symbol of the torch will be recognised
by everybody and that the right circumstances can be created, wherever
the torch travels, for it to resonate," International Olympic Committee
president Jacques Rogge said in a speech inside the ancient stadium
|
|
Wednesday the 19th of March
2008
|
Unions stage general strike in Greece
ATHENS, Greece - Unions in
Greece conducted a general strike Wednesday to send a message to the
government, which votes on a critical pension reform bill Thursday.
Thousands were expected to take part in the 24-hour general strike, the
BBC reported.
Strikes are already rife in the country with garbage collection halted
for the past two weeks and public transportation halted on Tuesday, the
report said.
The government expects to vote Thursday on reforms that would
consolidate 100 social security and pension funds. It is also
considering raising the legal retirement age, which is currently at 65
years for men and 60 for woman.
The reform measure "harms all categories of workers," Yiannis Panagopoo,
a labor union leader said. "And of course it dramatically reduces
pensions for everyone."
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has warned that Greece's debt-ridden
pension system could collapse if the reforms are not passed.
|
|
Thursday the 13rd of March
2008
 |
Tourist ship runs aground in Greece
Tourists disembark
a rescue ship in the Athens port of
Pireaus after being rescued from a
cruise ship that ran aground near the
island of Poros March 13, 2008. Greek
rescue crews transferred about 280
foreign tourists to safety after their
cruise ship ran aground in the Aegean on
Thursday, Greek officials said. The
small cruise ship carrying mostly U.S.,
Russian and Japanese tourists, ran
aground north of the Saronic Gulf island
of Poros about 50 km (30 miles) south of
Athens, but there were no injuries
|
|
Sunday the 24th of February
2008
|
Communist wins Cyprus presidential
vote
NICOSIA (AFP) - Communist party chief Demetris
Christofias won a historic victory in Cyprus's presidential election on
Sunday and immediately vowed to launch a new drive to reunite the island
after 34 years of division.
His jubilant supporters -- some in luxury convertibles -- cruised the
streets of Nicosia, the world's last divided capital, waving Cypriot and
banners of communist icon Che Guevara, their car horns blaring.
Christofias, 61, secured 53.36 percent of the vote against 46.64 percent
for conservative former foreign minister Ioannis Kasoulides in an
election billed by the local media as one of the most crucial in the
history of Cyprus.
"I offer a hand of friendship and cooperation to the Turkish Cypriots
and their leadership. I urge them to work together with us for the
common good of the people in a climate of peace," he told a victory
rally.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, head of the breakaway Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus, called Christofias to congratulate him and
the two have agreed to meet, an aide to Talat told AFP.
"We foresee a productive cooperation for the benefit of the two
communities for a viable and just solution to the problem," Christofias
said.
He had pledged during the election campaign to renew contacts with the
Turkish Cypriots in the north of the strategic Mediterranean island
after negotiations stalled under outgoing president Tassos Papadopoulos.
Christofias becomes the European Union's sole communist head of state
and his victory makes Cyprus the only European country with a communist
president apart from ex-Soviet Moldova -- over 16 years after the Soviet
Union collapsed.
The island's continued division has been a key stumbling block in
Turkey's own efforts to join the EU.
Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since Turkish troops invaded
in 1974 in response to a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at union with Greece.
A UN peacekeeping force has been deployed on the island since communal
unrest first broke in 1963.
The international community hoped that the ouster of Papadopoulos would
lead to a revival of peace efforts after his hardline policies led to
stalemate. He last met Talat in September but their talks went nowhere.
He led Greek Cypriots in voting down a UN reunification plan that was
overwhelmingly endorsed by Turkish Cypriots in referendums in April
2004. One month later a divided island joined the European Union and on
January 1 Cyprus entered the eurozone.
Kasoulides, a 59-year-old MEP who won the first round a week ago when
voters dumped Papadopoulos, pledged to work with his rival in efforts to
solve the Cyprus problem.
Christofias -- whose AKEL party has close ties to Moscow -- beat
Kasoulides by more than 33,000 of the 469,000 votes cast on Sunday after
winning the endorsement of three smaller parties that had backed
Papadopoulos.
A spokesman for the British High Commission said Cyprus's former
colonial ruler would work with Christofias.
Local media reported that Christofias had promised the centre-right DIKO
party of Papadopoulos three ministries including foreign affairs and the
socialist EDEK party two.
The deal could limit his freedom of manoeuvre on the Cyprus problem as
the two centre parties historically take a far less flexible approach
than either AKEL or the right-wing DISY.
"I hope he will be the man to solve Cyprus's problems but it will be
more difficult now because of the promises he has made to other parties
to win their support," said student George Xinisteris, 21.
There is concern over how he will handle the economy as AKEL is not
known for its love of the free market or as a convert to globalisation.
It has a Eurosceptic tendency and is wary of NATO, but Christofias has
rejected claims he is anti-European, and insisted he will not
nationalise the economy or discard any international agreements.
Cyprus hosts two large British military bases that house a string of
super-sensitive listening posts that provide Western powers with
intelligence on the Middle East and the former Soviet Union.
Cyprus has no post of prime minister and executive power rests
essentially with the president who is elected for a five-year term.
|
|
Wednesday the 20th of
February
2008
|
Greece promises fall
opening for much delayed Acropolis Museum
Greece's long-awaited new
Acropolis Museum will open this fall, cultural
officials pledged on Wednesday.
The opening of the new
glass-and-concrete facility at the foot of the
Acropolis in Athens has suffered myriad delays
over the past few years.
"We will inaugurate the
new museum in September," Greek Culture Minister
Michalis Liapis told reporters.
Greece has long touted
the new museum as a strong argument for the
British Museum to return the Parthenon Marbles,
the famed sculptures the U.K.'s Lord Elgin
removed from the site in the early 19th century.
Over the years, the
London museum has repeatedly rejected calls for
the Marbles to be returned to Greece, citing —
among other reasons — the lack of a proper
facility to display the intricate ancient
carvings.
Regardless, the design
of the Acropolis Museum includes a specific,
top-floor gallery awaiting the Marbles upon
their repatriation.
|
|
Monday the 18th of February
2008
 |
Snow blankets Greece
A cold snap that hit Greece yesterday blanketed
the country in snow, cutting off dozens of villages and grounding
flights at Athens International Airport.
Temperatures fell to as low as -11 degrees (12 degrees Fahrenheit) in
parts of northern Greece while in the capital snow fell steadily
throughout the day.
Officials said that about 70 villages were snowed in late yesterday,
mostly in Evia, central Greece and on the Aegean islands.
Athens International Airport closed down at about 5 p.m., cancelling
domestic and international flights, and was not expected to re-open
until 3 a.m. this morning.
The snowstorm, the result of two cold fronts moving south from Russia
and Scandinavia, struck Athens on Saturday night.
Authorities had issued appeals for people to remain indoors but said
some drivers ignored calls to take extra care on the country’s road
network and this had contributed to traffic problems.
“Drivers that decided to circulate without using anti-skid chains
created additional problems,” said a local government official.
“They slowed down traffic on some main roads by double parking in order
to put on snow chains,” he added.
The snowfall in the capital kept many Athenians indoors over the weekend,
with normally busy central streets far quieter than usual.
Other villages across the country, including on the southern island of
Crete, reported a number of problems with power and water supplies.
According to television reports, mountain villages near Iraklion on
Crete and other small towns on the islands of Andros and Tinos had their
power cut off since midday yesterday.
The snow is becoming more dangerous for drivers as it is turning to ice,
authorities warned.
Schools in Athens will remain closed, but government officials said
public services will operate as normal.
However, today’s driving examinations will be cancelled.
The National Meteorological Service said it expects conditions to begin
improving today
|
|
Wednesday the 13th of February 2008
|
Pension strike
paralyses Greece
All the flights to and from Greek airports have been scrapped. A 24-hour
general strike in Greece against planned pension reforms has brought the
country to a standstill. All flights to and from Greek airports have
been cancelled, and trains and buses are only running for a few hours.
The industrial action is being organised by the country's two main
labour unions.
They say the plan will raise retirement age and lead to lower pensions.
The government says the reform is needed to overhaul the ailing pension
system.
Greek air traffic controllers joined the strike, forcing authorities to
scrap all flights to and from the country's airports.
"I have just had a wasted journey to Gatwick as all flights to Greece
have been cancelled," Katy Panayiotides from Chelmsford in Britain told
the BBC News website.
The strike is also severely disrupting train and ship services across
the country.
Hospitals are only treating emergencies as thousands of doctors decided
to back the industrial action.
News programmes have gone off the air, with journalists also joining the
strike, along with engineers and lawyers.
"This protest will send a strong message to the government that they
cannot push through changes that hurt our working rights," Yiannis
Panagopoulos, one of the labour union leaders, was quoted as saying by
the Associated Press.
The conservative government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis says it
wants to overhaul Greece's debt-ridden and fractured pension reform.
It plans to merge some 170 social security and pension funds into
four-to-six main funds to cut administration costs, and also is also
considering raising the retirement age for some jobs.
The reform would also give incentives for Greeks to continue working
after retirement age, currently 65 for men and 60 for women.
|
|
Thursday the 7th of February 2008
|
New elected leader of
Greece's powerful Orthodox Church Metropolitan Bishop Ieronymos of
Thebes waves to the crowd from the Archbishop office in Athens on
Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008. Ieronymos succeeded the late Archbishop
Christodoulos who died on Jan. 28, 2008. |
|
Thursday,
the 31st of
January 2008
 |
Crowds line Athens streets for Greek church leader's state funeral
ATHENS, Greece - Large crowds lined the streets of
Athens Thursday and a 21-gun salute rung out for the state funeral of
Archbishop Christodoulos, Greece's popular but controversially outspoken
Orthodox church leader.
Schools, courts and public services were closed as Christodoulos was
accorded honors due to a head of state, reflecting the power of the
church that represents 97 per cent of Greece's native-born population.
The spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians,
Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, led morning prayers
at Athens Cathedral, attended by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis,
President Karolos Papoulias and top Orthodox officials worldwide.
"The archbishop's death was a great loss for the Orthodox world,"
Bartholomew said.
The archbishop died of cancer at his Athens home Monday, aged 69,
prompting an outpouring of public grief and dominating media attention -
which for weeks had focused on a sex scandal involving a senior prime
ministerial aide.
Mourners thronged streets Thursday in the capital's center, through
which the funeral cortege wound on foot for 1.5 kilometers toward a
cemetery near the 1,800-year-old temple of Olympian Zeus. The
archbishop's open casket was carried on a gun carriage, accompanied by
hundreds of black-robed priests, officials and a large military guard of
honor.
Flags hung at half-staff across Athens and on the ancient Acropolis,
which was closed for the day along with museums and archaeological sites
nationwide.
Over four days of national mourning, tens of thousands of Greeks stood
in line for hours to pay their respects to Christodoulos, as he lay in
state in the Cathedral.
The archbishop headed Greece's powerful church for a decade,
reinvigorating the vast institution. He eased centuries of tension with
the Vatican, but angered liberal critics who viewed him as an
attention-seeking reactionary who meddled in the affairs of state.
In 2001, Christodoulos received the late John Paul II - the first pope
to visit Greece in nearly 1,300 years - despite vigorous protests from
Orthodox zealots. The archbishop followed up in 2006 with an historic
visit to the Vatican.
A vocal opponent of issues ranging from homosexuality and globalization
to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union, the archbishop was
regularly named Greece's most popular public figure.
No candidates have been declared for Christodoulos' succession.
Contenders are widely expected to include Metropolitan Bishops Anthimos
of Thessaloniki and Hieronymos of Thebes, who both lost in 1998, when
the church's Holy Synod elected Christodoulos as leader.
Three other bishops have also reportedly expressed interest.
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Thursday,
the 24th of
January 2008
 |
Greek PM warns of 'immense' cost of tensions with Turkey
ANKARA (AFP) - Greek Prime Minister Costas
Karamanlis, on a landmark visit to Turkey, called for greater efforts
Thursday to settle bilateral disputes, warning of an "immense" cost if
tensions persist.
"We have a lot to gain by moving ahead together. We have even more to
lose by following the path of tension and enmity," Karamanlis, the first
Greek premier to visit Turkey in five decades, said.
"The way ahead will be long and difficult. But the cost of not moving
ahead... would be immense," he added, speaking at Bilkent University
here.
Karamanlis reiterated Greece's support for Turkey's bid to join the
European Union and stressed that Ankara's compliance with EU norms would
help resolve bilateral disputes.
"A European Turkey will be to the benefit, first, of its people and,
then, of the region and the continent as a whole. Recourse to the use or
threat of use of force is a non-option for modern European states," he
said.
Traditional rivals, Turkey and Greece have significantly improved
relations over the past decade but remain at loggerheads over
territorial disputes in the Aegean and over Cyprus.
In 1995, Turkey declared it was prepared to go to war to prevent Greece
from extending its territorial waters from six to 12 miles (10 to 20
kilometres).
In 2005, a Greek pilot was killed when fighter jets from the two
countries crashed during a mock dogfight over the Aegean.
Since January 2002, diplomats have been holding regular closed-door
talks over territorial issues, but no progress has been publicised and
mutual accusations of violations continue on an almost daily basis.
The partition of Cyprus, whose Turkish Cypriot northern third has been
occupied by Turkey since 1974, remains a major stumbling block to
Ankara's EU membership efforts.
Karamanlis and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after
talks Wednesday that both governments were determined to pursue efforts
to resolve outstanding problems.
Tensions between the two NATO allies have improved significantly after
1999, when deadly earthquakes that hit both countries sparked an
unprecedented outpouring of popular solidarity.
On Thursday, Karamanlis also met Turkish President Abdullah and laid a
wreath at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded modern
Turkey on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 after defeating the
Greek armies that invaded western Anatolia.
He then flew to Istanbul, home to a tiny Greek minority and seat of the
Orthodox Church since Byzanthine times when the city was called
Constantinople.
Speaking at a meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader
of the world's Orthodox Christians, Karamanlis said the reopening of an
Orthodox seminary in Istanbul was Greece's priority concerning the
rights of its ethnic kin in mainly Muslim Turkey.
The seminary on Heybeliada, one of the Princes Islands, was closed in
1971 under a law curbing religious schools in Turkey.
Bartholomew I described the patriarchate and the Greek community as "a
bridge" between Turkey and Greece.
"We need protection as peaceful citizens respectful of the law," he said.
Athens is also unhappy about properties confiscated from Turkey's tiny
Greek minority and Ankara's refusal to endorse Bartholomew I's
ecumenical title.
Karamanlis was to wrap up his visit Friday after attending a meeting of
Turkish and Greek business people.
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Wednesday the 9th of
January 2008
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Greece: Women protest in monk
sanctuary
THESSALONIKI, Greece - A group
of female protesters locked in a
land dispute with the Greek
Orthodox Church defied a
1,000-year-old ban and entered
the all-male Mount Athos
monastic sanctuary in northern
Greece, a police official said
Wednesday.
A
police spokesman said on
customary condition of anonymity
that the small group of nearby
villagers, including at least
six women, climbed over a fence
Tuesday and briefly entered the
self-governing peninsula, where
women are strictly forbidden.
Parliament member Litsa
Amanatidou Paschalidou was among
the women who entered the
sanctuary. She called it a "purely
symbolic act," which was meant
to send a message to the church
to "pursue policies which serve
the public and not its financial
interest."
The
protesters, who say the monks
are making illegal claims on
their property, broke away from
a rally of more than 400 people
and evaded a police cordon,
entering Athos grounds.
No
arrests were made, but the
public prosecution service in
nearby
Thessaloniki requested
details of the incident from
police, officials from the
service said.
Monks
at 20 monasteries on the Athos
peninsula have imposed a strict
ban on women for nearly 1,000
years. The ban is upheld by
Greece's constitution,
and violations are punishable by
up to a year in prison. In the
past, single female visitors are
rumored to have entered the
enclave disguised as men.
Resident groups in the northern
Halkidiki holiday resort area
are at odds with several Athos
monasteries over the ownership
of land outside the sanctuary
area.
"If
they are to take away our homes,
then it might be better for us
to go to prison, as we won't
have anywhere else to stay,"
said Kyriaki Malama, spokeswoman
for the Halkidiki citizens'
movement.
"We are
fed up and angry about this land
seizure and the monasteries'
demands. It was an effort to
persuade authorities to take
action," she told The Associated
Press.
Paschalidou, the lawmaker, said
the Athos land claims were based
on titles dating back to the
Middle Ages and the period of
Ottoman Turkish rule. Greece has
not completed a national land
register, and land disputes are
common.
"I
supported the women who wanted
to make this symbolic gesture,"
she said. "The problem with the
land has existed for years, not
just here but all over Greece."
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Sunday
the 6th of January 2008
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Greece
hit by strong earthquake
Greece, 01/07 -
A powerful earthquake has hit Greece, shaking buildings and waking
people from their sleep.
Greek geologists say the quake - measuring 6.5 - was centred 120km (75
miles) south-west of Athens in the southern Peloponnese region.
But it was very deep, 51km underground, and there were no early reports
of casualties or damage.
Reports say the quake was felt over much of Greece, which is the most
earthquake-prone country in Europe.
The earthquake struck at 0514 GMT - 0714 local time - while many people
were still asleep.
Residents of the southern town of Kalamata said their houses shook for
40 seconds. Reports say the quake was also felt in Italy.
The last serious earthquake in Greece killed more than 100 people in
September 1999. |
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Sunday
the 6th of January 2008
 |
Greek Orthodox
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I
conducts the Epiphany day ceremony in
Aya Yorgi (St. George) church at the
Fener Greek Orthodox patriarchate in
Istanbul January 6, 2008.
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Monday
the 1st of January 2008
 |
Athens New Year 2008 : Fireworks explode over the
ancient temple of Parthenon at the Acropolis hill as Greece celebrates
the new year. |
