Bomb Goes Off Near Greek Parliament Building
ATHENS — An explosive device was detonated outside the Greek Parliament building in the heart of Athens just before 8 p.m. Saturday. The attack caused no injuries and little damage.
According to the police, the device was a time bomb that had been placed underneath a trash bin in front of Parliament, a few yards from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which draws hundreds of visitors daily.
The area had been evacuated and cordoned off by the police 10 minutes before the explosion, after an anonymous warning was phoned in to Eleftherotypia, a daily newspaper. A phone call received by the police shortly after the blast, warning that another bomb had been placed outside a hotel opposite Parliament, was believed to be a hoax.
By late Saturday night, there had been no claim of responsibility for the blast, which shocked passers-by and reporters waiting at the back entrance of Parliament for news from an evening briefing by the interior minister for officials of the governing party. The Parliament building was not evacuated.
Extremist groups have increasingly planted bombs outside government buildings, banks and businesses in Athens — usually as warnings rather than attempts to kill — but this attack was the first at the Parliament building.
Just over an hour after the blast, Prime Minister George Papandreou, whose government is preparing a financial austerity plan to resuscitate the country’s beleaguered economy, visited his office in Parliament. “Democracy will not be terrorized,” he said.
The minister responsible for public order, Michalis Chrysochoidis, spoke to reporters on television a few yards from the spot of the explosion.
“Some people are intent on spreading fear and panic,” he said. “We state outright that we are not afraid and we are not panicked. Athens is a safe and free city. We will not allow it to become a police state.”
According to the police, the device was a time bomb that had been placed underneath a trash bin in front of Parliament, a few yards from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which draws hundreds of visitors daily.
The area had been evacuated and cordoned off by the police 10 minutes before the explosion, after an anonymous warning was phoned in to Eleftherotypia, a daily newspaper. A phone call received by the police shortly after the blast, warning that another bomb had been placed outside a hotel opposite Parliament, was believed to be a hoax.
By late Saturday night, there had been no claim of responsibility for the blast, which shocked passers-by and reporters waiting at the back entrance of Parliament for news from an evening briefing by the interior minister for officials of the governing party. The Parliament building was not evacuated.
Extremist groups have increasingly planted bombs outside government buildings, banks and businesses in Athens — usually as warnings rather than attempts to kill — but this attack was the first at the Parliament building.
Just over an hour after the blast, Prime Minister George Papandreou, whose government is preparing a financial austerity plan to resuscitate the country’s beleaguered economy, visited his office in Parliament. “Democracy will not be terrorized,” he said.
The minister responsible for public order, Michalis Chrysochoidis, spoke to reporters on television a few yards from the spot of the explosion.
“Some people are intent on spreading fear and panic,” he said. “We state outright that we are not afraid and we are not panicked. Athens is a safe and free city. We will not allow it to become a police state.”
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