Nikos Toskas

The tender to issue new, more secure identity cards in Greece that will meet the standards and technical specifications of European Union countries will be announced "in a matter of days, and not weeks," Alternate Minister for Citizens Protection Nikos Toskas said on Thursday, during a debate in parliament.

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.

Police officers are expressing fears that the increase in violence against them in the last few days may lead to a dead police officer or civilian, according to the general secretary of Police Special Guards, Stratos Mavroidakos.

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.

Alternate Minister for Citizens Protection Nikos Toskas said in London that Hellenic Police will recruit foreigners who live in Greece, citing the example of Scotland Yard.

"We are obliged to examine such approaches so as to maintain order in the best possible way," Toskas stated according to a report in Ta Nea newspaper in Athens on Friday.

A dispute between the authorities and organizers of Sunday's large 'Macedonia' rally in Athens continued on Monday with Citizens' Protection Minister Nikos Toskas defending the Greek Police's (ELAS) estimate that 140,000 people attended.

Organizers claimed that turnout was much higher: between a million and a million and a half.

Referring to a threatening letter he received on Thursday, Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said on Friday in a tweet that certain TV stations and papers have slandered him for years so as to make him a target.

"They are annoyed that no one can hold me back," he said, adding that they are moral instigators of these threats.

In a letter to Citizens' Protection Minister Nikos Toskas, the union of Hellenic Police officers (POASY) on Wednesday underlined its opposition to a government decision to boost security for notarial firms involved in controversial property foreclosures.

In a letter to Citizens' Protection Minister Nikos Toskas, the union of Hellenic Police officers (POASY) on Wednesday underlined its opposition to a government decision to boost security for notarial firms involved in controversial property foreclosures.

After months of investigation, the Hellenic Police (ELAS) is poised to present prosecutors with a file on the activities of Rouvikonas (Rubicon in Greek), the anarchist group that has recently stepped up its attacks on political and business targets, in a bid to investigate whether its members can face tougher penalties.