Fake bomb planted outside Athens court complex

A suspicious package that was spotted in the Evelpidon Street court complex in downtown Athens on Friday turned out morning to be crude replica of an explosive device.

Police cordoned off the area and bomb squad experts were called in when the brown paper parcel was spotted outside a door used mainly by lawyers.

The replica was wrapped in a sheet of A4 paper that had a drawing of the so-called Vergina Sun, suggesting that the fake bomb may have been planted in protest at the name settlement with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), whose flag references the ancient Greek symbol.