Giannis Oikonomou

British Home Secretary Suella Braverman commended the Greek government and police during a visit to the Evros border region on Friday for being very effective in preventing "illegal migration" by building "an extremely secure land border" with a sturdy barrier that was completed very rapidly to act as a deterrence.

Citizen Protection Minister Giannis Oikonomou has a point when he says that his role is not that of a "policeman, an operational official, to draw up plans for dealing with hooligans, or to explain the self-evident - that is, that they [the hooligans involved in the killing of a 29-year-old soccer fan in Athens] should not have been allowed to cross half of Greece without being stopped somewher

The main opposition on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of repeating measures "he had already announced in February 2022" to tackle the violence perpetrated by hooligans in Greece.

In the latest bid to combat fan violence, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet on Wednesday with Aleksander Ceferin, the president of European soccer's governing body UEFA, in Athens after the deadly hooligan clashes on Monday night on the eve of the Champions League qualifier between AEK Athens and Dinamo Zagreb. 

The opposition PASOK party has called for the resignation of Citizen Protection Minister Giannis Oikonomou after leaked police documents showed that authorities possessed prior knowledge of Croatian hooligans' intentions to travel to Athens, potentially with the malevolent aim of inciting violence.

Seven police officers, including the head of the sub-directorate for violence in sports grounds, have been removed from their posts over the deadly clashes between rival soccer fans that took place in Athens late on Monday, Citizen Protection Minister Giannis Oikonomou said on Tuesday.

The prime minister's office officially announced on Friday the appointment of State Minister Akis Skertsos as government spokesman.

Skertsos is replacing government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou, who is a candidate in the May 21 elections.

State Minister Akis Skertsos will assume the duties of government spokesman until the Greek elections on May 21, outgoing spokesman Giannis Oikonomou announced on Thursday, during a regular press briefing.

Oikonomou is resigning from the post to run for Parliament and, according to Greek law, he will be subject to restrictions regarding media appearances of candidates.

The way has been paved for EU funding of border infrastructure such as the Evros fence in northeastern Greece after an amendment introduced by the European People's Party was voted through in Strasbourg. 

A group of people attacked MP and former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis at a restaurant in the Athens neighborhood of Exarchia, breaking his nose.

The group spotted Varoufakis at the restaurant on Valtetsiou St., or was informed of his presence, and confronted him; one or more of the group eventually hit Varoufakis in the face.