ATHENS – Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was attacked late Friday in central Athens, suffering a broken nose, cuts and bruises.
attack, which his party DiEM25 It has been told As a “brazen fascist attack”, Varoufakis was dining in the central Exarchia district with party members from across Europe.
“A small group of thugs stormed the place shouting aggressively, falsely accusing him of signing the Greek bailout with the triumvirate [the country’s bailout creditors]DiEM25 said in a statement, “Vauroufakis stood up to talk to him, but he immediately responded with violence, savagely beating him while filming the scene.”
Politicians across the political spectrum sharply condemned the attack on Varoufakis, the motorbike-riding, leather-jacketed politician who rose to fame as the country’s finance minister in 2015.
As part of the Greek government led by leftist Syriza, Varoufakis fought the so-called Troika and Europe-imposed austerity. While the Greek administration eventually surrendered and signed the bailout agreement, Varoufakis left the government and founded a cross-border far-left political movement, DiEM25,
“He was not an anarchist, leftist, communist or a member of any movement,” Varoufakis said in a do early saturday “They were thugs for hire (and saw it), who clumsily invoked the lie I sold the Troika. We will not let them divide us.
The Exarchia neighborhood has a reputation for being a stronghold of self-proclaimed anarchists. Varoufakis was publicly harassed in 2015 when dining in the same district at the height of the financial crisis.
Greece’s Civil Defense Minister Takis Theodorikakos said police would take all measures to identify and arrest the perpetrators of Friday’s attack. He added that the DiEM25 leader, “on his own initiative, with his personal police detail” was not at the restaurant.
Greece has been hit the most demonstrations In recent days since the eurozone crisis, as Greeks have taken to the streets on an almost daily basis to protest the country’s deadliest train crash, conservatives are stepping up pressure on the New Democracy government ahead of upcoming elections. The wave of public anger came after a train crash on February 28 that killed 57 people and raised deeper questions about the management of the rail system.
The train crash has raised deep questions about the functioning of the Greek state and renewed anger against the political system.
“Please focus: we are mourning the 57 victims of rail privatization. We support the spontaneous youth rallies, the biggest hope that Greece can change. See you at the demonstrations,” Varoufakis TweetedAnother big rally is going to happen on Sunday.