Α sole 36-year-old man was led before an Athens prosecutor on Wednesday on a felony charge stemming from the defacing of Parliament’s main facade a day earlier, when up to 30 members of a self-styled “anarchist collective” threw paint “bombs” at the building.
The suspect was arrested shortly after the incident and has reportedly been detained on several occasions in the past after similar “interventions” and vandalism by the “Rouvikonas” collective.
He remained in custody on a felony charge of damage to a historical monument. Another three suspects have reportedly been identified but remain at large.
Tuesday’s lighting raid in broad daylight against Parliament itself – ostensibly one of the best guarded-sites in Athens – comes amid a crescendo of vandalism and violence around the country by self-styled anarchist and anti-state group demanding another prison furlough for a notorious urban terrorist.
Earlier, another street gang damaged an election pavilion belonging to Athens mayoral candidate Costas Bakoyannis, whose father, Pavlos Bakoyannis, was assassinated by the ultra-leftist “November 17” terror gang in 2019. Slogans in support of the jailed terrorist, convicted of 11 homicides, and against the slain Bakoyannis were spray-painted on the pavilion’s side.
Another “antifa-like” raid targeted the office of the rector of the Athens university on Wednesday, as up to 10 masked people trashed the office and spray-painted another slogan.
The favorite targets of such groups over the past 10 days have been mostly events and election pavilions of opposition political parties.
Another supposed “well-guarded” location, the US ambassador’s residence also had paint lobbed at its entrance, with nary an arrest reported afterwards.
Tuesday’s incident generated a heated political reaction and criticism.
