Head of Popular Unity party summoned over gun possession

The leader of the far-left Popular Unity party Panagiotis Lafazanis has been summoned by Attica police authorities to answer charges of illegal gun use and possession.

The summons is part of a wider investigation ordered by an Athens prosecutor into protests against foreclosures on the properties of overindebted Greeks.

In a statement, Lafazanis, a former SYRIZA minister, said that after receiving the summons he felt "disgusted" and "persecuted" as he once was during the 1967-74 military dictatorship.

"It is tragic - not for me, but for the country - that I am the first head of a democratic political party in the post-dictatorship era who is summoned on political charges," he said. He also accused the state of resorting to tactics used by the authorities in Turkey.