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The Greek police are in a state of high alert because of fears that runaway terrorist Christodoulos Xiros will soon organise an attack on a politician, judiciary representative or businessman. Their concerns are due to the fact that the former member of the terrorist group "17 November" and one of the persons who usually carry out the attacks have published two letters and one video on Indymedia website.

The police are planning to install a network of cameras outside at least 50 offices and homes of politicians, judges and other persons, which will be connected with the operations centre of the Greek police 24 hours a day. Another measure under consideration is the establishment of a signalling system between the police patrols in order for them to be immediately informed in the event of an armed attack. They will probably install cameras on 4-7 patrol cars, which are to immediately arrive at the scene of the potential attack and submit a video from the scene to the operations centres.

According to police officials, Xiros had left prison ready to undertake armed actions. An investigation carried out by Kathimerini newspaper reveals that in recent months the terrorist had often visited the prison wing with the cells of the convicted members of "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei". The police suggest that he had organised networks of collaborators who helped him hide after escaping from prison and found allies with a view to carrying out a large-scale attack.

Christodoulos Xiros’ manifesto contains open threats. "Once again I have decided to take up the guerrilla gun against all those who have stolen our lives and sold our dreams to benefit from this." This is, according to the police, the essential phrase of the long letter from the terrorist, which is accompanied by a 4-minute long video.

It shows Christodoulos Xiros sitting against a black background and pictures of the following persons behind him: Ernesto Che Guevara, Aris Velouchiotis - commander of the Greek People's Liberation Army ELAS that acted during the German occupation and the subsequent civil war, Georgios Karaiskakis and Theodoros Kolokotronis who were rebels and fought against the Ottoman rule in the Peloponnese. "I urge all who support the guerrilla actions, whether they are free or in captivity (prisoners – author’s note), to unite. We cannot allow ourselves to oppose one another. We are at war and in times of war, we cannot sit and discuss things in detail. A war means battles," writes Xiros.

At the end of the letter, which consists of eight pages, he signed as a "free member of 17 November." The first six pages are dated 31 December 2013 and were written in Korydallos prison, and they are actually an analysis of the situation in Greece and the world.

Hours after the publication of the manifesto, undetected persons attacked with four "Molotov cocktail" petrol bombs the riot police forces guarding the headquarters of the ruling PASOK party.

Photo: Twitter, user: Mosxovas
 
Today Eleftherotipia newspaper published a letter from the leader of terrorist group "17 November", Alexandros Giotopoulos, who caustically comments on the fact that Christodoulos Xiros was able to obtain so many leaves from prison.
 
"If Christodoulos is a very dangerous terrorist why hadn’t he been punished in 2011 when he had set fire to his cell but was moved to another wing at his request instead? Why had they allowed him to walk free in prison and go to the main office of the warders, to the members of "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei" and to the most notorious criminals? Who had ordered that?" writes Giotopoulos, adding, "Of course, neither the director nor any of the chief warders had done so. They have no such power nor would they assume this responsibility. The order had come from above. It had come from the service combating terrorism, the counterintelligence service and therefore from the government that controls them."

SYRIZA deputy Manolis Glezos supports a similar theory and states that "the system" had released Christodoulos Xiros to fool the public. "Who would benefit from the escape of the killer from "17 November," he asks, answering his own question, "It is only the system that has released him to shift the focus of the people from the tragedy that they are experiencing."

At the same time, the anti-terrorist service is examining the video of Xiros. According to well-informed sources cited by Naftemporiki newspaper, it had been shot in his hiding place in the presence of 2-3 other people. One of them was shooting with the camera whereas the other was holding the sheets of paper, which Christodoulos Xiros reads in the video. They assume at present that the text had been written in collaboration with members of "Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei".