A Greek radical group called Revolutionary Struggle, has claimed responsibility for a triple bombing last week at a police station in an Athens suburb and is warning that some visitors to the Games this summer are “undesirable”. In an interview with the newspaper “To Pontiki” the group said that all members representing international capitalism, global mercenary killers and state officials, as well as wealthy western tourists were not welcome.
Greece’s Premier Costas Caramanlis warned Greek businesses not to hike prices during the Games, promising that government agencies will be on alert to crack down on profiteering. He said, “we will all be on alert – ministries, agencies and producers – to insure that the market is adequately supplied with products of the highest quality and at the best prices”.
Athens 2004 will begin a four-day simulated Olympics exercise Thursday with American officials and advisors from six other countries – Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, and Spain. The “Olympic Guardian II” exercise will involve about 300 people and examine “counter-terrorist response scenarios and management of the consequences” of an attack. The last major simulated exercise was in November in Stuttgart, Germany at the headquarters of the U.S. military’s European command.
Greece’s finance minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis told the EUobserver that there is no way his government will scrimp on costs relating to the Olympics, despite massive overspending that threatens to bring Athens into conflict with EU budget rules. Last week Eurostat – Brussels’ statistical body – said that Greece had broken through the limit in 2003 with a deficit of 3.2 per cent. Alogoskoufis said, “there is no way that we will jeopardize the Olympics for this reason. We are looking at other areas of public expenditure…not the Olympics”. (We are) not touching either the preparation for the Olympics or the whole operation of the Games”. Alogoskoufis blames part of the overspending on increased security costs.
And finally, Greek police have arrested five British and German journalists who illegally entered two main Olympic sports complexes. They were briefly detained and then set free. Athens Games officials said a reporter and a photographer for the Times tried to approach the Olympic stadium after climbing over a fence and entering the main compound in the suburb of Maroussi. Also, three German journalists working for a production company were detained in the Hellenikon sports complex and were released. Greek officials warned journalists to avoid such actions because consequences could be severe, hinting that armed guards could use their weapons to stop intruders.
