Hellenic Police

The union of Greek police officers (POASY) is accusing the leadership of the Hellenic Police (ELAS) and the Citizens' Protection Ministry of indifference to and tolerance of attacks on officers deployed to protect notary firms conducting auctions of foreclosed properties.

The Hellenic Police (ELAS) has come under pressure after Monday night's attack by anti-establishment group Rouvikonas on the Council of State in central Athens.

Police on Tuesday launched an investigation after a 57-year-old former police officer was shot and killed in the early hours of the morning in what investigators believe was an attack prompted by a personal vendetta.

A 57-year-old former police officer was shot and killed in the early hours of Tuesday in what investigators believe was an attack prompted by a personal vendetta.

The streets of Attica will be policed by an additional 700 officers who have been relieved from duty guarding buildings and senior officials (politicians, judges and others), and another 100 from various police bureaus and services.

The measure was announced by the Citizens' Protection Ministry amid growing criticism from opposition parties over a rise in crime rates.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Tuesday that he has asked the head of the Hellenic Police (ELAS) to reduce the number of officers assigned to guard the party's offices by 20 percent, so they can return to neighborhood patrol amid a spike in crime.

Nineteen people were killed and 13 injured seriously in a total of 502 traffic accidents on the roads of Attica in March alone, figures published by the Hellenic Police (ELAS) on Tuesday have shown.

Counterterrorism officers launched an operation in the early hours of Tuesday to arrest suspected members of a far-right extremist group calling itself Combat 18 Hellas.

House raids in various parts of Atttica and in one more location that has not been disclosed have so far led to six people being remanded for questioning in relation to several bomb and arson attacks.

The situation with groups of rampaging anarchists smashing public and private property, with the senseless graffiti that seems to have left no building in the center of Athens untouched, and with the bullying tactics of sundry activists claiming to represent certain social causes has breached all limits of acceptability. 

Citizens' Protection Minister Nikos Toskas on Thursday responded to criticism that he is not doing enough to curb a recent spate of anarchist-related violence by suggesting that the Hellenic Police (ELAS) is to blame.