Arson damages Athens building housing Greek media outlets
An arson attack on a suburban Athens building that houses the offices of a Greek radio station and newspaper has caused significant damage
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An arson attack on a suburban Athens building that houses the offices of a Greek radio station and newspaper caused significant damage early Wednesday and drew condemnation from political leaders in Greece and elsewhere in the European Union.
Explosions were heard before a fire broke out shortly after 3 a.m. at the building which houses radio station Real FM and the Real News newspaper in Maroussi, a northern Athens suburb.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze. Fire Service investigators found the remnants of three gas canisters tied together on an external stairwell between the ground and first floors, as well as a can containing a flammable liquid.
No one was injured, although a radio station sound engineer was evacuated and treated for smoke inhalation. The offices of a shipping company on the building’s top floor suffered the most damage. The newspaper in located on the first floor and the radio station on the second.
Real Group owner Nikos Chatzinikolaou, a veteran journalist, posted a short clip from his car that showed the top of the building on fire and tweeted: “Explosions and fire at Real FM and Realnews! They are burning us! They are trying to shut us down!”
Chatzinikolaou founded the media company in 2007. The group also includes news site enikos.gr.
Real Group reported on its website that security cameras showed two people with their heads covered placing the canisters and can.
Police said they suspect other people might have helped the arsonists escape. , are examining security cameras from nearby buildings.
The group’s news site said a serious malfunction in the radio station’s broadcast tower on Tuesday could be related to the fire.
No one had claimed responsibility as of Wednesday afternoon.
Greece has seen similar attacks on media outlets and other targets that most often turned out to be the work of far-left groups, but Tuesday's fire caused more serious damage.
“The freedom of the press is neither constrained nor muzzled by terrorist acts,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a Parliament session.
Opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, several government ministers and politicians from all of the countries political parties made online and live statements strongly denouncing the attack.
European Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourov joined the condemnation and said Greek authorities must do “much more...to guarantee the security of journalists and media, because this this attack is really shocking.”
___
Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this report.