Athens: Petrol bombs tossed at ministry buildings

Petrol bombs tossed at ministry buildings

Kathimerini
Friday July 23, 2004

Demonstrators at an anti-Olympics protest in central Athens last night hurled a gasoline bomb outside the Interior Ministry and spray painted the columns of surveillance cameras set up for the Games. There were no arrests.

In the pre-dawn hours, suspected anarchists threw two molotov cocktails at the Culture Ministry building and the nearby headquarters of the Cultural Olympiad. This attack, at around 4 a.m., caused slight damage but no injuries.

No group claimed responsibility for the acts, but police suspect they were the work of one of the anarchist groups that have carried out many similar attacks over the years, usually targeting banks, businesses or cars.

Investigations were focusing on the surrounding district of Exarchia, police said. Many self-proclaimed anarchists live there.