Greece considers using snipers to protect Athens police stations

Following a series of armed attacks on police officers in Athens the Greek ministry of law and order is seriously considering plans to station snipers around the capital's police stations and other possible targets according to Greek daily, Kathimerini.

Last week a newly formed group calling itself the Revolutionary Sect claimed responsibility for machine gun attack on the station in the Athens suburb of Korydallou in which a grenade was also thrown which failed to explode. In the declaration left as a CD on the grave of Alexis Grigoropoulos, the 15 year - old shot by police in December the group stated that "a cop's life is the cost of a bullet" and that as well as high ranking police officials, members of the government and media would be considered targets.

The attack was the third in since the riots and protests that swept Greece in December and a variety of far left groups have claimed responsibility. The most serious incident resulted in one officer being seriously wounded as he was standing guard outside a government building in central Athens in January.

The government is also considering the possibility of asking for help from British police in order to combat a rising tide of anti-government violence. Scotland Yard was previously consulted during attempts to capture members of the 17th November terrorist group following their assassination of Stephen Saunders, the British military attache in Athens in 2000. The 19 members of the group were eventually arrested in 2002.

However, questions remain over the effectiveness of deploying members of the police anti-terrorist unit, EKAM. Although the organisation was widely praised for its working during the 2004 summer Olympics the force has had a checkered operational history which has seen a number of embarrassing failures such as the botched hostage rescue attempt in Athens,1998 which led to the death of a hostage and a failed operation to recapture escaped armed robber, Kostas Passaras in 2001.

Over the last two months police stations across Greece have also seen dozens of arson attacks as well a being the target of small improvised explosive devices known locally as "gazakia" since they utlilise small camping gas canisters.

Dude on Stone

Dude on Stone, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Taken tonight just after the premier of W in Thessaloniki during the city's 49th film festival. For more on Oliver Stone click here.

"THESSALONIKI – Oliver Stone was in town yesterday to present his latest presidential film at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, “W,” a biopic on outgoing US President George W. Bush.

“People assumed a lot about Bush,” the celebrated American filmmaker told a packed press conference yesterday, “they ‘mis-underestimated’ him – to use one of his own terms. People see him as a failure, but this is not quite true because the Bush ‘doctrine’ is well in place.”

Click here to read the rest of the Kathimerini article.

Paris Petridis

Paris Petridids, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

In “The Greek Schools of Istanbul,” published by Agra, Thessaloniki-born photographer Paris Petridis has captured those old schools. The Zappeion, Zografeio and Megali tou Genous schools, and the lesser-known Astiki Vlangas, Galata Primary and Koinotiki Astiki of Halkidona, once part of a thriving Greek world, are now in a state of dignified decline.

They give rise to nostalgic associations of ideas that fan out like an accordion: school photographs, Kemal and Jesus, the crescent and the cross, Greek “Victorian” style, imposing buildings and crisp classicism in the urban fabric of Istanbul. Remnants of a bygone era, the Greek schools remind us how much has changed in the past century."

Click here for the rest of the article from Kathimerini.

Greece's strawberry war ends in uneasy truce

Picture by Giannis Liakos

In scenes reminiscent of Steinbeck's 1930's classic, the Grapes of Wrath, immigrant and minority workers have clashed with what Greek newspapers called "hired thugs' over pay and conditions. Amidst sometimes violent clashes agricultural workers in the Greek town of Nea Manolada, home to 90% of Greece's strawberry production took part in a four day stoppage aimed at getting a pay rise of 3.5 euros a day.

As of Sunday strawberry producers have agreed to rise pay from 22.5 to 28 euros for farm labourers.However, the figure of 28 euros only applies to European workers, non-Europeans will receive only 25 euros according to the Greek newspaper, Kathimerini. Fears still remain that the producers will fail to honour even this agreement, due to be take effect in Autumn, once media attention has died down. The local council sets the minimum wage for untrained labourers at 30.4 euros a day.

It should be noted that strawberrys, sometimes called "red gold" by local producers, retail at 1.5 to 3 euros a kilo on the Greek market

The newspaper also brought to light several cases in which the police force and members of the local authorities, which turned a blind eye this week to attacks on union and political activists by landowners, are also involved with various scams involving the sale of fake residence permits for immigrant workers.

Miltos Paulou, head of the European Union Agency for Fundemental Rights (FRA) stated that 70% of those working in intensive agriculture in Greece are illegal immigrants and that Greek law limits foreign workers ability to change jobs so allowing the kind of exploitation seen in Nea Manolada and many other areas.

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Tags: Greece | agriculture | immmigrant workers | labor relations | Nea Manolada | strawberries | World

From the Kathimerini newspaper

Milk inquiry speeded up

Questions mount regarding possible price fixing in the dairy

The findings of an investigation by the Competition Commission into possible price fixing in the dairy industry will be prepared more than a month ahead of schedule as speculation grows regarding the background behind this week’s corruption allegations

Sources said that the commission’s examination of the industry will be ready in 10 days rather than the early November deadline originally set.The government will be keen to shed light on the sector that has given birth to one of the country’s largest state corruption cases.

Dairy company Mevgal informed the Competition Commission earlier this week that it was being asked for a 2.5-million-euro bribe from one of its officials to avoid slapping it with a 25-million-euro fine.

The commission’s director, Panayiotis Adamopoulos, along with two accomplices, were arrested and charged with blackmail on Tuesday in response to the allegations.The news has given way to questions as to whether the alleged blackmailers had approached others in the dairy industry.

“My guess is that they did not just approach us (for a bribe),” Mevgal’s legal adviser, Kriton Metaxopoulos, told Skai Radio.

No other dairy firm has come forth with claims that it has been approached for a kickback.Police said that they are investigating all cases handled by Adamopoulos since he took up his position in November 2005.

The dairy industry was the subject of an investigation by the competition watchdog in 1997. Claims that Greece has the highest priced dairy products in the European Union have fueled rumors that companies in the sector are not allowing the market to operate efficiently.

Meanwhile, the government is measuring the fallout from news of the corruption scandal which is considered to be mixed.Political analysts expect the bribery revelations to provide the government with political points in the long term, as it has made the fight against corruption one of its key policies.

“Whenever such incidents appear, they will be met efficiently. This was not done for many years in the past. Whoever is involved will suffer the consequences as dictated by the law,” said alternate government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros.

From Kathimerini