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Athens wrapped itself in French colours; Greek intelligence had warned months ago about a possible attack by jihadists with European passports

15 November 2015 / 19:11:42  GRReporter
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Greece paid tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris. Many public buildings were floodlit in the colours of France, e.g. the Acropolis, Athens town hall, the Cultural Centre of the Onassis Foundation, the White Tower in Thessaloniki. Alongside the Greek and the European ones, the French flag was mounted on the side of the Greek Foreign Ministry building.

 

People kept coming to the French Embassy on Vassilis Sofias Avenue to lay flowers in memory of the victims. Everybody was united by the slogan 'Je suis Paris'. A civil vigil was held in front of the French Institute in Thessaloniki.

Reports claiming that one of the bombers had passed through Greece sparked particular concern among the public. However, Greek media reminded their readership that such reports are nothing new. In September, Yiannis Panousis revealed that while he was minister for citizens' protection, the National Intelligence Service had detected jihadists in Greece. Back then, his claims caused a public stir.

 

In an interview for the Eleftheros Typos daily, Panousis clarified he hadn't been talking about jihadist cells in the country, but instead had shed light on the fact that the services had "found jihadists in the country who were European citizens. They hadn't entered as refugees. They had come in with their passports as European citizens using their right of free movement across the EU."

Panousis claims that these were French citizens, and all legal means were used "to get these people out of the country."

 

It is also worth remembering that a year ago, on 24 September, 2014, the US State Department confirmed the existence of extreme Islamists in Greece who used the country as a bridge to Europe and the USA. An employee of the US foreign ministry told Antenna TV that Islamists from Western Europe passed through the country on their way to the Middle East. He also said that among the two thousand jihadists who came from Western countries, there were Greeks as well.

The French authorities sent an emergency warning to southern European countries, including Greece. The French secret services mentioned a car with French number plates associated with jihadists from Paris, which is allegedly headed to the Mediterranean. Its registration number has been sent out to the checkpoints along the Greek border.

 

Meanwhile, the refugee flow into Greece has seen no signs of abating. 170 refugees were found yesterday morning on the uninhabited island of Gioura, north of Alonissos. 50 of them are children. They found themselves on the island after their trafficker abandoned them.

Yesterday afternoon, the refugees were taken to Alonissos and the Coast Guard began registering them. Most have no documents and claim to be Syrians.

 

Historically, Greece has been subject to attacks by terrorists from the Middle East twice. The first attack caused a great deal of casualties, and took place on 5 August, 1973, at the counter of the Israeli airline El Al at Athens airport. Two Palestinians attacked people in the transit hall with grenades and automatic rifles. Their final aim was to hijack an El Al flight to Tel Aviv. However, as the plane had already taken off, the terrorists decided to attack the passengers of the TWA flight to New York, which had just arrived from Tel Aviv. There were about 1,500 people in the airport building at that time. The assailants lobbed their grenades first, and then started firing indiscriminately their weapons. They held 35 hostages for about two hours before surrendering to the police. The tragic tally was: three killed – one Austrian and two Americans, who had come to Greece on holiday – and 55 wounded.

 

The second incident took place in July 1988 when the City of Poros cruise ship, heading towards the Saronic Gulf islands, was stormed by Palestinian gunmen, who killed nine tourists. Earlier in the day there had been a strong explosion from a car full of explosives at the pier where the ship was supposed to berth. The blast only killed the two Arab terrorists inside the car as the bomb had exploded prematurely. The plan of the terrorists probably was to attack with hand grenades and firearms the tourists filing out of the City of Poros. Investigators also found that the premature explosion might have been due to the actions of Israeli agents who had got wind of the operation. 

Tags: terrorist attacks Paris tributes refugees Yannis Panousis jihadists attacks in Greece
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