A top priority for the New Democracy government is now the identification and arrest of the perpetrators behind the triple arson attack targeting the homes of ruling party officials in Thessaloniki: Zisis Ioakimovitis, Chairman of the New Democracy Administrative Committee of Thessaloniki; former MP for Thessaloniki B’ Savvas Anastasiadis; and candidate for Thessaloniki A’ Afroditi Nestora. These attacks, and the subsequent death of Mrs. Nestora’s 70-year-old mother following the arson attack on their home, have sent shockwaves through the ruling party, with all possible causes and motives now being investigated.
Read more: Afroditi Nestora: The New Democracy official who lost her mother in an arson attack
Maximos Mansion calls for a united front against the “terrorist attack” in Thessaloniki
“We must, however, call things by their name: Vagia Nestora, Afroditi’s mother, was murdered,” said government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis as soon as news of her death broke.
At the Maximos Mansion — the office of the Greek Prime Minister — officials are expecting the political establishment to rally together against this act of terrorism and issue an explicit and unequivocal condemnation. Shortly after the incident, party secretary Konstantinos Kyranakis described it as “an outright terrorist attack,” stressing that “those who continue to respond to such criminal acts with half-measures, false neutrality, or silence are effectively supporting terrorists.” Afroditi Nestora herself described it as “an inhuman, blind terrorist strike.”
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: “Zero tolerance for bloodshed and extremist division”
“The tragic death of Vagia Nestora confirms the murderous and inhuman nature of blind violence in public life,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared on Wednesday evening. “No one can remain inactive or resort to hypocritical words of condemnation any longer. Zero tolerance for the bloodshed and division sown by the extremes! The rule of law and social unity must now banish terrorism to where it belongs: the margins! And the light of the many must dispel the darkness of the few,” the Prime Minister stated, before placing this dramatic development in a broader context: “Greece has worked hard to achieve its economic recovery from bankruptcy, and has painfully managed to overcome the divisions of the past. It will never go back. It is time, therefore, to raise a wall of maturity and determination against those who threaten it — with the government at the forefront of this fight. Because stability and normality are prerequisites for prosperity, and security and justice are the pillars of democracy.”
Earlier, the Prime Minister visited those injured in the Thessaloniki arson attacks who were receiving treatment at Hippokrateio Hospital, describing the incident as “a cowardly murderous attack.” He also offered a pointed indication of who the perpetrators might be: “I would like to once again emphasize that violence has no place in a civilized society, and those who cloak themselves in the mantle of social struggle in order to carry out such acts are nothing more than common criminals — and they will be treated as such.”
Mitsotakis’ message: “We will find you and bring you to justice”
In his first public remarks on the attacks — delivered at the launch of the New Democracy Parliamentary Group’s new digital platform on Wednesday afternoon at the Bodosaki Mansion — Mitsotakis also alluded to the origins of the perpetrators, pointing implicitly toward the broader anti-establishment anarchist milieu. “I know that various individuals, particularly in Thessaloniki, have been ‘disrupted’ from decades-long squats and perhaps feel that the time has come for some new kind of ‘revolutionary exercise.’ We are sending them a very clear message: we will find you and we will bring you to justice,” he said pointedly.
Justice Minister Floridis references the Rouvikonas anarchist group
It is worth noting that earlier — before news of the attacks broke — Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis expressed his view on ERT News, when asked about a recent incident involving so-called “assault squads” in Thessaloniki, that the Rouvikonas anarchist group is a criminal organization. He argued that “the time has come to consolidate the scattered pending case files from across Greece. The same approach was taken with Golden Dawn: the files, which were spread out and pending, were consolidated, and that process led to the prosecution of a criminal organization.”
