The mother of Afroditi Nestora is hanging on to life “by a thread,” having suffered severe burns. She is currently intubated and in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Thessaloniki’s Thessaloniki “Ippokrateio” hospital, following an explosion caused by a terrorist incendiary attack carried out with gas canisters by unknown perpetrators early on Wednesday morning (July 1). Doctors in the ICU of Ippokrateio hospital are going above and beyond, making tireless and superhuman efforts to keep the critically burned woman alive.
It is recalled that in the early hours of Wednesday (July 1), three separate arson attacks using gas canisters were carried out against the homes of three officials of the ruling New Democracy party. The attacks occurred within a span of less than 20 minutes, placing authorities on high alert. The most serious of the attacks took place in the Charilaou area — the third in the sequence — where fire broke out among parked cars and motorcycles, causing extensive damage to the vehicles. In total, five people were injured in the gas canister explosion at Afroditi Nestora’s home.
Thessaloniki: Alarm raised after arson attacks targeting former New Democracy officials
The first incident occurred at around 4:20 a.m. in the Pylaia area, where unknown individuals detonated an improvised incendiary device using a gas canister at the entrance of an apartment building owned by Zisis Ioakimovits, president of the New Democracy governing committee in Thessaloniki. Five minutes later, a second attack struck the Toumba neighborhood, where another improvised device exploded at the entrance of an apartment block where former New Democracy MP for Thessaloniki B’ Savvas Anastasiadis resides. The explosion caused damage to the building’s entrance but resulted in no injuries.
Anastasiadis on the attack at his home: “It had happened before with paint”
Speaking on Wednesday morning (July 1) to Action24, Savvas Anastasiadis, the former New Democracy MP whose home was targeted, stated: “I was away from my Thessaloniki home. From what I was told, gas canisters were placed there at around 3 a.m. The glass panels at the entrance have been shattered and there was a small fire.” He added: “There are security cameras. From what I’m told, a person entered from the forest, left the gas canisters, and we hope they will be identified at some point. The attacks were simultaneous. I can’t understand why my building was targeted. Something similar happened before with paint. Obviously, the police will do their job. We also had a car stolen previously.”
Marinakis: “When you use gas canisters, you want people to die”
Government spokesperson and Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Pavlos Marinakis swiftly condemned the incidents. Speaking to SKAI television, Marinakis said that within the span of approximately one hour, three attacks involving improvised explosive devices were recorded, stressing that these were extremely serious incidents. “There are no words. Within one hour, three murderous attacks were carried out on the homes of New Democracy officials. Murderous attacks — with gas canisters, not leaflets,” he stated emphatically. “When you plant gas canisters, an explosive device, you want people to die,” he added.
The government spokesperson further noted that the perpetrators deliberately targeted people who are politically active and who voluntarily support their party, emphasizing that the attacks cannot be treated as mere cases of property damage. He also announced that law enforcement agencies have launched extensive investigations to identify those responsible, describing the acts as “grave felonies” and confirming that a manhunt is currently underway for the perpetrators.
Shortly before, Zisis Ioakimovits, president of the New Democracy governing committee for the Thessaloniki region, spoke to Parapolitika 90.1 radio about the arson attack on his home and the early morning attacks on Wednesday (July 1) targeting New Democracy officials’ residences in Thessaloniki, which resulted in injuries to three people.
Ioakimovits: “Fortunately, we only had material damage to the ground floor”
Speaking in detail on the show hosted by Sotiris Xenakis and Vasilis Skouris, Zisis Ioakimovits said: “It was around 4:15–4:30 a.m. when we heard a rather deafening bang. I immediately went out onto the balcony, saw the smoke, and realized it was a gas canister. Fortunately, we only had material damage to the ground floor. A neighbor friend lives in my building and we were spared any further tragedy, unlike what happened in Mrs. Nestora’s case.”
He continued, speaking about the attack on Afroditi Nestora’s home: “There, because the building apparently had an open ground-floor space, they placed the gas canisters, the cars caught fire, and Afroditi came downstairs with her mother and father to see the fire. Her mother is intubated with severe burns at Ippokrateio, but in a stable condition; Afroditi has some burns on her hands and is on an oxygen mask. Her father has some respiratory issues and is in the pulmonology ward.”
Zisis Ioakimovits also referred to the case of Savvas Anastasiadis. As he explained, Anastasiadis was out of town, his building was also targeted with gas canisters, and only material damage was caused. He noted that a similar incident had occurred in the past, stating: “Three years ago, both my building and Anastasiadis’s were attacked with red and black paint, also in early July. According to the Counter-Terrorism Unit, no one has claimed responsibility for those attacks to this day.”
“I had received no threats in the past”
When asked by journalists whether he had received any threats, Ioakimovits replied: “I had received no threats in the past. I believe it is the institution itself that is being targeted — the institution of party president, MP, or political candidate — by people who belong to the anti-establishment sphere.”
Kyranakis calls it “a full-scale terrorist attack”
“The people of New Democracy will not be terrorized,” declared Konstantinos Kyranakis, Secretary of the Political Committee of New Democracy, in a statement responding to the gas canister attacks on the homes of party officials Zisis Ioakimovits, Savvas Anastasiadis, and Afroditi Nestora. “This is a full-scale terrorist attack,” he said, noting that the perpetrators “intended to kill.”
The full statement by Konstantinos Kyranakis:
“The people of New Democracy will not be terrorized. This is not vandalism. This is not mere ‘interference.’ This is a full-scale terrorist attack on the homes of New Democracy officials Zisis Ioakimovits, Savvas Anastasiadis, and Afroditi Nestora and their families. And those who carried it out intended to kill.
We wholeheartedly wish the injured a swift recovery from this difficult fight for their lives that they are currently waging in intensive care units. Those who continue to respond to such criminal acts with half-measures, false equivalences, or silence are providing support to terrorists. Everyone should realize this.
Those who have, for years, cultivated a culture of tolerance toward political violence must reflect on their responsibilities.
We have full confidence in the Greek Police to swiftly identify the perpetrators.
The people of New Democracy will not be terrorized. Every such attack achieves exactly the opposite result. It unites us even more firmly against those who believe that violence and terrorism can silence the ideas, principles, and values of our party.”
PASOK expresses outrage over violent attack in Thessaloniki targeting three New Democracy officials
PASOK’s outrage over the violent attack in Thessaloniki targeting three New Democracy officials and their families was expressed by PASOK–Movement for Change spokesperson Kostas Tsoukalas during the party’s press conference on the Recovery Fund. Mr. Tsoukalas described the incident as one that has no place in a democracy, expressing PASOK’s “clear, categorical, and unequivocal” condemnation of the attacks.
He also expressed the party’s solidarity with the families of the New Democracy officials. “Violence has no place in democracy,” he stressed, adding that all necessary steps must be taken to arrest those who planned and carried out “this heinous crime.”
Greek Solution calls for “immediate arrests and exemplary punishment of the perpetrators”
In a statement, the Greek Solution party condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the arson attacks on the homes of party officials in Thessaloniki. The party wished the injured a speedy recovery and called for the immediate arrest and exemplary punishment of those responsible. It also argued that “law and order in practice will only come with Greek Solution.”
