Greek Police are examining the remnants of a bomb which detonated on Saturday in a sentry-box near the Athens Evelpidon court complex after learning about it from an online claim of responsibility by new guerrilla group.

The explosion, which does not appear to have caused any injuries, was claimed by an as yet unknown group calling itself Circle of Asymmetric Urban Warfare-Informal Anarchist Federation-International Revolutionary Front/FAI-FAR.

In the claim on an anarchist website, the group said it had placed a homemade bomb, comprising half a kilo of gunpowder and a timer behind the court complex last Saturday.

It said it knew the device had gone off but had been unaware of its impact "as our act was silenced by the status quo."

The group said the act was an act of solidarity with several jailed anarchists, including Constantinos Giagtzoglou, a 29-year-old being detained for sending a letter bomb to former prime minister Lucas Papademos last year, and in protest at a police crackdown on anarchist squats in Athens, Thessaloniki and Volos. </s> The Greek counter-terrorism unit has arrested 14 people – 13 Greeks and one foreign national – on charges of funding a terrorist organization and money laundering.

The defendants, 11 men and three women, were arrested on Tuesday morning on arrest warrants issued by an investigative magistrate.

The investigation began on October 28 after the arrest of 29-year-old Constantinos Giatzoglou who sent a letter bomb that seriously injured former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos earlier last year.

The 14 were found to have made deposits in a bank account used by Giatzoglou to withdraw money </s> PARIS — French prosecutors are investigating a possible Greek link after a letter exploded Thursday at the Paris' office of the International Monetary Fund, lightly injuring one person.

The IMF incident came as a Greek anarchist group claimed responsibility for a letter bomb sent to the German Finance Ministry the day before.

The Paris prosecutor's office said Thursday night investigators found "residues of Greek stamps" on the letter bomb at the IMF's office in the French capital.

French President Francois Hollande called Thursday's explosion in Paris "an attack" and noted "a similarity with another event of the same nature in Berlin. ... We are trying to establish the causes of what happened as part of an international investigation."

Authorities in Athens confirmed the Greek lead in the investigation.

"We've just been informed by the French authorities that [the parcel] was posted from Greece," Greece's deputy minister for public order Nikos Toskas told Antenna TV.

Toskas added that whoever sent the Paris' letter bomb used the name of a senior Greek conservative opposition lawmaker, Vassilis Kikilias, and "the address of an office that is no longer in use."

The failed letter bomb sent Wednesday to the German Finance Ministry also had the name of a false sender, that of another senior lawmaker from the same party, Adonis Georgiadis. </s> Former prime minister of Greece Lucas Papademos was wounded Thursday in an explosion in a car in central Athens, police said.

Papademos, 69, opened an envelope inside his car that contained explosives, according to local media in Athens. However, police did not immediately confirm that it was a parcel bomb.

Papademos was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. His driver also was wounded, a police official told The Telegraph.

"We are all in shock following this action," said Nikos Pappas, a government minister and close aide to Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras. "We condemn this appalling action without reservation and with all our heart wish Mr. Papademos the best."

Papademos served as prime minister for six months from 2011 to 2012 and is a former deputy governor of the European Central Bank.

Police said at least one additional person in the car also was injured.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Greek politicians have been targeted in the past by militant far-left and anarchist groups. Earlier this year, a group called Conspiracy Cells of Fire, claimed responsibility for sending parcel bombs to the German Finance Ministry and the Paris office of the International Monetary Fund, where a small explosion injured one person.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> Self-styled anarchist group Rouvikonas (Rubicon in Greek) threw flyers and shouted slogans in favor of the Palestinians outside the house of Israeli Ambassador Irit Ben-Abba in the northern suburb of Psyhiko on Thursday evening.

 

 “As we have said in the past, the Palestinian issue is a multifaceted problem that some times intensifies and others it subsides. However, for us, the continuous support for such a respectable and dignified struggle is our primary concern. That is why we decided today to come to the home of Israel's Ambassador to Greece,” the group said in a statement posted on the indymedia website.

 

 “Rouvikonas believes that the Palestinian struggle does not lose its symbolic meaning it has had for decades,” it added.

 

 The group is responsible for dozens of acts of vandalism against perceived targets, such as state offices, financial agencies, embassies, media and other businesses. </s> ATHENS, Greece (AP) - An explosion inside a car in Greece's capital wounded former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos on Thursday, police said. His injuries were not considered to be life-threatening.

The 69-year-old Papademos, who served as prime minister for six months in 2011-2012, was hospitalized and undergoing tests, officials said. Police said two other people in the car were also wounded.

Police gave no further details and didn't immediately confirm media reports that the explosion was caused by a parcel bomb that Papademos opened while inside the car.

FILE - In this May 11, 2012 file photo, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos speaks to Greek President Karolos Papoulias during their meeting at the presidential palace in Athens. The 69-year-old Papademos, who served as prime minister for six months in 2011-2012, was wounded in an explosion in a car in central Athens on Thursday, May 25, 2017. Police say his injuries aren't life-threatening. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis, File)

"We are all in shock following this action," said Nikos Pappas, a government minister and close aide to Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras. "We condemn this appalling action without reservation and with all our heart wish Mr. Papademos the best."

Papademos is also a former deputy governor of the European Central Bank. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Greek politicians have been targeted in the past by militant far-left and anarchist groups.

Earlier this year, a group called Conspiracy Cells of Fire, claimed responsibility for sending parcel bombs to the German Finance Ministry and the Paris office of the International Monetary Fund, where a small explosion injured one person. </s> Police clash with students who try to pull down Harry Truman statue in Athens (photos-videos)

Students are marching towards the US Embassy in Athens, protesting the strikes in Syria. The march started shortly before 1 pm on Monday and students are demanding Greece not take part in any way in the military operations against Syria by the US, Britain, and France.

With slogans like: “Rise up! No to the imperialist war in Syria – No participation of our country “, students and student clubs (Historical-Archaeological, Teachers, Kindergarten, Turkish Studies, NFEEBP, FEA, STETROD TEI ATHENS) gathered earlier at Propylaia to voice their opposition and indignation against the war.

During the march clashes with police resulted in the reported injury of a student, while a statue of US President Harry Truman was allegedly pulled down by the students. Meanwhile, Panepistimiou Avenue, Stadiou, Amalias, and Vasilissis Sofias have been closed.

“We give our hand to the people of Syria! Stop the carnage now!”, the students are chanting. </s> THESSALONIKI, GREECE: The mayor of Greece’s second city Thessaloniki was hospitalized early on Sunday after an assault by suspected far-right members at a rally, officials said. Yiannis Boutaris, 75, had to be escorted from an event commemorating the massacre of Black Sea Greeks in Turkey during and after World War I when members of the crowd turned violent. “They were hitting me everywhere. Kicks, punches, the lot,” Boutaris told state agency ANA Sunday. “It was a despicable attack, but I am well.” Footage from the event shows Boutaris initially being heckled. As he starts to leave, people start throwing objects at him and he falls to the ground. Some of the attackers tried to break the windows of his car as it sped off. The office of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the attackers were “far-right thugs.” A maverick politician, Boutaris has repeatedly angered hardliners in Greece with controversial statements on Macedonia, Turkey and Israel.

 AFP </s> The mayor of Greece's second-largest city was admitted to hospital with injuries after he was set upon by a group of ultra-nationalist demonstrators.

The attack took place in the northern coastal city of Thessaloniki on Saturday during a commemoration marking the killing of Greeks in the Ottoman Empire during the tail end of the World War I.

Known to many Greeks as the "Pontic Genocide", the killings are marked annually by nationalists and right-wing groups and parties.

The 75-year-old mayor, Yiannis Boutaris, reportedly sustained injuries to his head, back and legs after being attacked with bottles and kicked in the head and body.

It comes on the heels of a surge in far-right violence in Greece.

Kostas Tsakalidis, a Thessaloniki-based photographer, witnessed the attack while covering the flag-lowering ceremony during Saturday's commemoration.

"A group of people started to shout at him for his opinion on the Macedonian dispute, the LBGTQI community, Turkey, and [nationalist] football clubs," he told Al Jazeera, adding that he had seen many of the assailants at "extreme right protests" in recent months.

"Some people were shouting about Jews because he has had close relationship with the Jewish community over the years."

Tsakalidis explained that Boutaris fell to the ground after being hit, while attackers threw bottles "and other objects" at him. One assailant proceeded to kick the mayor as he lay on the pavement.

Although a group of police officers were located nearby, Tsakalidis said "none of them intervened" to stop the attack.

At the time of publication, Greek police had not replied to Al Jazeera's request for a comment.

On its website, the neo-fascist Golden Dawn party - which holds 16 seats in the Hellenic Parliament - accused Boutaris of "tarnishing" the commemoration.

In a separate statement, Golden Dawn celebrated the attack as "popular rage", accusing Boutaris of supporting Turkey at a time of rising tensions between Athens and Ankara.

In late January, upwards of 300,000 people rallied in Thessaloniki against negotiations between Athens and Skopje to resolve a decades-long dispute over the name Macedonia.

During that rally, unknown perpetrators spray-painted "Golden Dawn" on Thessaloniki's Holocaust memorial.

Others attacked a pair of anarchist squats in the city, setting one ablaze and badly damaging the building.

On the same day, leaflets accusing Boutaris of being "a slave of the Jews" were passed out and scattered on the pavement in the city centre.

Seraphim Seferiades, a politics professor at the Panteion University in Athens, said far-right violence "is definitely on the rise".

"It's something to be expected because there is a political gap [that the far right] is exploiting, and in that context, it's likely we'll see more violence," he told Al Jazeera.

"It's certainly dangerous," he added.

The attack was roundly condemned by Greek political parties.

Syriza, Greece's ruling left-wing party, described the attackers as "fascists".

"This fascist assault is an attempt to target and intimidate Yiannis Boutaris," Syriza said in a statement released after the incident.

Pasok, a centre-left party, condemned the attack on Boutaris as "embarrassing" and "unacceptable", decrying the "extreme elements" who committed the violence for "tarnish[ing] the day of remembrance".

In a statement published on Saturday night, the centre-right opposition party New Democracy condemned the attack "in the most unambiguous manner".

Saturday's incident is the latest in a string of far-right and xenophobic attacks in Greece, including a slew of assaults targeting refugees, migrant labourers and others across the country.

Earlier this month, police opened an investigation after several headstones were smashed in the Jewish section of the First Cemetery of Athens.

In Lesbos, a Greek island that hosts thousands of asylum seekers, a band of far-right assailants attacked a group of refugees in Mytilene's central square with bottles, Molotov cocktails and stones in late April.

According to Greek police statistics, the number of hate crimes more than doubled last year when compared to 2016, rising from 84 to 184.

In January, a far-right group called Crypteia phoned several civil society groups, including the Muslim Association of Athens, with death threats.

In Thessaloniki, photographer Tsakalidis said Saturday's attack on the mayor was "shocking".

"I'm very ashamed that this situation happened in my city," he concluded.
An anarchist group claims responsibility for a bombing outside a courthouse in Athens, Greece, on March 24.