Turkish Consulate

A group of Greek-Cypriot university students went on a two-day hunger strike on Tuesday outside the Turkish Consulate in Thessaloniki on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the unilateral proclamation of the Turkish-Cypriot state in the occupied north of Cyprus on Thursday.

A march to the Turkish Consulate has also been planned for Thursday.

Unidentified youths used homemade firebombs to target police stationed outside the Turkish Consulate in Thessaloniki early on Sunday.

The masked assailants lobbed Molotov cocktails at the police unit, prompting officers to respond with stun grenades and tear gas.

They also set fire to three garbage dumpsters before fleeing.

Members of the "Greek Mothers" group held a demonstration outside the Turkish Consulate in Thessaloniki Monday to demand the immediate release of the two Greek soldiers who have been held in a Turkish prison since March 1 without charge.

In the wake of a series of attacks against police, opposition New Democracy lambasted the leftist-led government on Wednesday for failing to tackle lawlessness in Greece.

A few hours after self-styled anarchists claimed responsibility for a weekend firebomb attack against a riot police unit in northern Greece, the conservative opposition accused the left-led government for failing to curb an upsurge of violence and lawlessness in the country.

A group of anti-establishment assailants has claimed responsibility for Saturday's firebomb attack in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, against a riot unit van guarding the Turkish Consulate which put the lives of some 20 officers at risk.

The union of Thessaloniki police officers staged a demonstration Tuesday outside the city's main courthouse in the wake of Saturday's firebomb attack against a riot unit van which put the lives of some 20 officers at risk.

The van was transferring officers guarding the Turkish Consulate.

A barrage of attacks by members of anti-establishment groups in Athens and Thessaloniki in recent days have put the government on the back foot, with main opposition conservatives bemoaning what they describe as a state of lawlessness enveloping the country.

A prosecutor on Monday ordered an urgent investigation into a firebomb attack against a riot police unit that had been guarding the Turkish Consulate in Thessaloniki on Saturday night which caused serious damage but no injuries.

Bulgaria's nationalist United Patriots coalition, which is part of the government, has caused tension that may also provoke a dispute with Turkey after its city councillors in Stara Zagora, in central Bulgaria, voted to scrap 838 place names that pointed to Turkish or Arabic origins.