VZCZCXRO0090
OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHTH #0318/01 0750535
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 160535Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3369
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ATHENS 000318 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/12/2019 
TAGS: PTER ASEC ABLD PGOV PREL GR
SUBJECT: GREECE TRIES TO COPE WITH HEIGHTENED DOMESTIC 
TERRORIST ACTIVITY 
 
REF: A. ATHENS 282 
     ¶B. ATHENS 248 
     ¶C. ATHENS 215 
     ¶D. ATHENS 114 
 
Classified By: DCM Deborah McCarthy for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
Summary 
------- 

¶1. (C) New terrorist attacks continue to rock Greece with a 
frequency not seen since 2000, unnerving the country's 
political and professional elite.  A number of violent 
far-left groups -- some previously unknown -- have claimed 
responsibility for bombings, shootings, and arson incidents, 
and this and the unprecedentedly large scale of some of the 
attacks have raised concerns that the new generation of Greek 
domestic terrorists is more impulsive and less concerned 
about collateral damage than its predecessors.  While no one 
has been killed in any of the attacks this year, there is 
real concern about a possible attack with mass casualties, a 
prospect that has many Greeks worrying about their own 
security in a way they have not for over a decade.  End 
Summary. 
 
More Attacks, More Claims of Responsibility 
------------------------------------------- 

¶2. (SBU) In January and February of this year there were over 
70 security incidents (including IED and explosive attacks, 
as well as those involving small arms, grenades, and other 
infantry-style weaponry) in Greece, roughly equivalent to the 
number for each entire year in the 2001-2004 range.  There 
were about 140 such incidents in 2005, 280 in 2006, 220 in 
2007, and well over 300 in 2008, which included a huge spike 
in December during the riots that followed the shooting death 
of teenager at the hands of police.  On March 12 the 
terrorist group Revolutionary Struggle claimed responsibility 
for two of the most notable recent incidents, the bombing of 
a Citibank branch in the Nea Ionia suburb of Athens March 10 
and the attempted bombing of a Citibank branch in the 
Kifissia suburb of Athens February 18 (ref C).  The Kifissia 
bomb, if it had been properly formulated and constructed, 
could have caused a much greater level of destruction than 
the gasoline-based bombs that have been used in other 
attacks.  In its statement, Revolutionary Struggle did not 
explain this apparent escalation in its tactics, but launched 
broadsides against banks for their role in the global 
financial crisis, the media, and two-time former Minister and 
ruling party politician Savvas Tsitourides, and made 
references to the older Greek terrorist organizations 
November 17 and ELA, with particular emphasis on ELA. 
 
¶3. (C) Nor are the attacks limited to the relatively 
well-established Revolutionary Struggle.  A new group called 
Sect of Revolutionaries has issued militant declarations of 
responsibility for recent attacks on police and television 
stations (ref B).  Multiple organizations have claimed 
responsibility for taking over and burning a commuter train 
in Kifissia March 3, although the anarchist group Gangs of 
Conscience - Perama Extremists appears most likely to be the 
responsible party (ref A).  Other groups have gotten into the 
act as well with attacks on banks and other targets. 
 
Nervousness among Police and Public 
----------------------------------- 

¶4. (C) The police have increased their visible presence in 
downtown Athens anarchist hubs like Exarchia, where police 
engaged in a raucous battle with anarchist gangs on the night 
of March 6-7.  Police reportedly employed a new, more 
aggressive approach to security incidents when a large force 
responded to a masked gang's attack on two downtown 
opticians' shops March 10, but they failed to make any 
arrests or to prevent the plundering of the shops.  Indeed, 
police have made no arrests in connection with any of the 
serious terrorist attacks recently.  The newspaper To Vima 
reported March 11 that police were bracing for more terrorist 
action and published a "top secret" list of 82 individuals 
and facilities that the police considered major terrorist 
targets.  Later the same day police chief Tsiatouras placed 
four senior officers on administrative leave in connection 
with the leaking of the list. 
 
¶5. (C) The expectation of further serious attacks is sinking 
in not only with the police and political class, but also 
with broader sections of the Greek public, as we have 
observed anecdotally.  The Ambassador recently attended an 
event organized by Greek alumni of Harvard and Georgetown -- 
mostly upper-middle-class professionals not involved in 
politics -- and found them genuinely concerned about their 
safety, to the extent that they refrained from publicizing 
their event out of fear that it might become a target. 
Antonis Peratikos and George Momferatos, leading members of 
the "Os Edo" organization of family members of November 17 
victims, told the Ambassador and DCM March 12 that in the 
years following the 2002 arrests of November 17 members, 
Greek society grew relaxed about the terrorist threat.  Now, 
they said, a successful attack on the scale of the attempted 
Kifissia fertilizer bomb could make November 17's murders 
look restrained in comparison.  Because of the re-emergence 
of the threat, they indicated they were looking into ways to 
re-energize their organization and to remind the Greek public 
of the true human cost of terrorism. 
 
¶6. (C) A large number of American businesses in Greece are 
very concerned about the safety of their personnel, 
operations, and buildings due to the increased activity by 
anarchist and terrorist groups.  Citibank, Coca-Cola, Nike, 
IBM, American Express, and other Overseas Security Advisory 
Council (OSAC) members have expressed their frustration 
regarding the inability of the police to make any significant 
arrests of RS members and their lack of faith in the Greek 
judicial system.  An OSAC meeting is scheduled for March 31. 
 
Comment 
------- 

¶7. (C) While anarchist violence has never really stopped in 
recent Greek history, it had for several years become a 
peripheral concern that most Greeks assumed was confined to 
certain downtown neighborhoods in Athens and Thessaloniki and 
occasional foreign targets.  This decade has felt nothing 
like the heyday of domestic terrorism from the 1970s to 
1990s, when ELA alone conducted an estimated 500 bomb 
attacks.  The latest surge in terrorist activity has many 
Greeks questioning the sense of security that they have taken 
for granted for years.  We have already seen reports 
suggesting right-wing groups may be emerging to counter 
leftist extremists, for example the new ASPIS (Police 
Patriotic Power), a group whose founding statement declared 
"we won't tolerate violence and crimes" and "we are not 
afraid of them and they better be afraid of us!"  Meanwhile, 
the growing public fears are matched by genuine concern on 
the part of Greek law enforcement officials that the 
terrorist groups they have been unable to crack may be 
capable of a major deadly attack. 
SPECKHARD