Greek Security Minister: Anarchists behind assault on Varoufakis

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
11 Mar 2023 22:07

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and all the prominent parties in Greece have condemned the recent assault on the Socialist political theorist and former Greek finance minister: Yanis Varoufakis.

Greek economist and former minister Yannis Varoufakis speaks at a rally in Parliament Square as part of the demonstration against the extradition to the U.S. of Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, in London, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020 (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and all the prominent parties in Greece have condemned the recent assault on the Socialist political theorist and former Greek finance minister: Yanis Varoufakis.

"The attack on Mr. Varoufakis is absolutely condemnable and cannot be tolerated by our democracy. I wish him a speedy recovery and I am sure that the Greek police will make every effort to bring the perpetrators to justice," PM Mitsotakis said in a tweet.

Varoufakis was assaulted in a restaurant in Athens after a meeting with European political activists. Yanis was violently assaulted and fractured his nose in the process.

"We unequivocally condemn today's attack on the secretary of MeRA25, Yanis Varoufakis. Such acts are directed against any kind of democracy," Greece's leftist coalition SYRIZA tweeted.

Varoufakis described his assaulters as "thugs for hire" who "clumsily invoked the lie that I sold out to the troika," i.e., the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, three organizations that evaluated the distribution of financial aid to the country during the debt crisis.

Later today, it was reported that an anarchist gang was identified as responsible for the attack according to the Greek Minister of Citizen Security Takis Theodorikakos, who added on Twitter that "this is the reality no matter how unpleasant it may be to some."

According to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA), the state security police apprehended a 17-year-old man who was reportedly involved in the attack and named two further suspects.

In response, Varoufakis tweeted dissentingly telling the government to "stop [its] disorienting speculations."

Varoufakis held the position of finance minister in Greece's first left-wing administration for seven months back in 2015. He had served as Greece's senior representative in negotiations with the international creditors (the troika), and he resigned at their request and the request of Alexis Tsipras, who was prime minister at the time, so as not to obstruct Tsipras from engaging in talks with the Eurogroup.