GREECE: Bomb in western Athens causes extensive damage

Record ID: 356750

  • Title: GREECE: Bomb in western Athens causes extensive damage
  • Date: 15th May 2010
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (MAY 14, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PRISON VARIOUS OF TOWER OF PRISON SMASHED WINDOW OF SHOP POLICE CORDON ACROSS SITE SMASHED GLASS ON THE GROUND FROM SHOP POLICE ON GUARD AT SITE VARIOUS BROKEN SHOP WINDOWS VARIOUS OF CAR WITH SMASHED WINDOWS MORE BROKEN WINDOWS OF STORES MAN LOOKING AT DAMAGE MORE PEOPLE LOOKING AT DAMAGE ANOTHER SMASHED FAC
  • Embargoed: 30th May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAPQ7ERBCLFL1UKYWX7SDMALT3
  • Story Text: Local residents in a western Athens suburb on Friday (May 14) were cleaning up the extensive damage caused by a large bomb that exploded outside Athens' main prison the night before.
    The bomb, outside Athens Korydallos maximum security prison, damaged dozens of shops and homes up to four blocks away, and slightly injured two people, police said.
    A man and a woman were slightly injured inside their apartments by broken glass and were taken to hospital, police said. The blast was so intense that it uprooted a large tree and was heard kilometres away, said a Reuters witness.
    The windows of parked cars were also shattered, along with the window displays of shops, and windows of homes.
    The bomb was placed inside a garbage container close to the wall of the top security Athens prison in the Korydallos suburb, west of Athens, but it did not collapse the wall.
    An unidentified caller warned a Greek TV station and a newspaper that a bomb would blow up outside the prison in minutes. Police rushed to evacuate the area and the device went off at about 1915 GMT.
    Most buildings had their windows blown out from the force of the explosion.
    Korydallos prison, where the convicted members of the deadly November 17 urban guerrilla group are serving sentences, is one of the best guarded jails in Greece.
    The motive of the attack is not known but police said the attack could be an act of sympathy to six suspected members of the country's most militant guerrilla group, Revolutionary Struggle, which were captured and charged last month for involvement in bombing attacks.
    Bomb attacks by militant groups are frequent in Greece and usually target police, public buildings or businesses.
    In March, a 15-year-old immigrant boy was killed and his mother and sister wounded after a bomb exploded outside a building in central Athens, in the first deadly attack in years.
    Urban violence has increased after the police shooting of a teenager in December 2008, which prompted weeks of riots.
    Social unrest is also picking up after Greece took belt-tightening measures, include wage cuts and tax hikes in recent months, aimed at pulling Greece out of a debt crisis.
    Tens of thousands took to the streets to protest austerity measures last week and more protests are planned by labour unions. During the march, three people, one of them a pregnant woman, were killed when hooded youths threw petrol bombs at a bank in central Athens.
    Opinion polls show the public is angry for bearing the brunt of belt tightening and demands social justice. The socialist government has vowed to bring transparency to the political system and meritocracy in state institutions.
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