GREEK ANARCHISTS BURN ATHENS TRAIN

UNCLAS ATHENS 000282 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER ASEC ABLD PGOV GR SUBJECT: GREEK ANARCHISTS BURN ATHENS TRAIN REF: A. ATHENS 248 ¶B. ATHENS 215 ¶C. ATHENS 165 ¶D. ATHENS 54 ¶1. (SBU) At about 0100 local time March 3, a group of 15 to 20 young people ejected the driver and passengers from a train at the commuter station in the northern Athens suburb of Kifissia and then set fire to the train with Molotov cocktails. Eight train cars were completely destroyed. All of the perpetrators, who were wearing hoods and masks for the Greek carnival season, managed to escape in cars and motorcycles. The station -- the northern terminus of the Athens-Piraeus Electric Railway -- suffered considerable damage and had to be closed. No one was injured. ¶2. (SBU) In a proclamation published on an anarchist website, the Gangs of Conscience - Perama Extremists claimed responsibility for the attack and expressed hope that it would remove the "fish-like gaze of apathy and disinterest" from all those "who surrender to sterile movement from and to their jobs, from and to their homes, and to their entertainment." The group had previously claimed responsibility for several arson and firebomb attacks in ¶2008. In an apparently separate claim of responsibility, the newspaper Eleftherotypia reported that a caller claimed the Kifissia attack was carried out by Revolutionary Nuclei, an older Greek terrorist group that has not been especially visible in recent years. ¶3. (SBU) Comment: Anarchist arson and vandalism are well-established traditions in Greece, but this attack comes on the heels of a number of increasingly serious domestic terrorist incidents and is remarkable for the extent of the destruction and its location in the suburbs, far from the usual anarchist battlegrounds downtown. The targets of recent attacks include police, journalists, and other symbols of the state and the capitalist system (reftels). Yet another such attack occurred at about 0230 local time March 4, when arsonists broke the glass facade of a Piraeus Bank branch in the Neo Psychiko suburb of Athens, poured gasoline inside and set it alight with Molotov cocktails, gutting the first floor of the building. SPECKHARD