Six people were injured during a “rumble” involving, according to initial reports, rival gangs of local men and Albanian nationals in the northeast Athens district of Gerakas, with one person in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the neck.
The incident, which occurred at roughly 2 a.m. (local time), came hours after an ethnic Greek was killed in a shootout with Albanian police near the southern Albanian town of Bularat, or Vouliaretes, under still hazy circumstances.
It remained unknown at press time whether the two incidents are related. A witness later told police that the Gerakas fracas was due to “economic differences”.
No arrests were made, although an automatic handgun was recovered at the park where the incident took place.
The Greek foreign ministry on Sunday evening called on law enforcement authorities in neighboring Albania to fully investigate and clarify the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of the 35-year-old Greek citizen.
Konstantinos Katsifas fell in a gun battle with Albanian police commandos reportedly sent to arrest him at or near a Greek military cemetery in the area. Sunday was a national holiday in Greece, which marked the 78th anniversary of the country’s entry in WWII after Italian forces invaded the country through Italian-occupied Albania.
In a statement, the foreign ministry in Athens referred to an “unacceptable event” whereby a police operation leads to a loss of life.
