By George Gilson

For the second time in less than five months the anarchist group Rouvikonas has carried out an act of vandalism at the US Embassy in Athens, this time due to the refusal of a Greek prosecutor to approve the seventh furlough of the now defunct N17 terrorist organisation’s top gun Dimitris Koufodinas, who is serving 11 life sentences for as many murders.

Koufodinas has been on a hunger strike since 2 May, after his seventh consecutive furlough was denied.

The US Embassy and Greek opposition parties each time issued a public denunciation of the furloughs.

Conservative MP Pavlos Bakoyannis, the brother-in-law of main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis was murdered by N17 in September, 1989.

Calm response from Pyatt

US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt played down the attack as “childish vanadalism”.

“Kalimera, I woke up to more childish vandalism this morning outside the residence and will continue to work with Greek authorities to punish the culprits according to law. Destruction of property is not peaceful protest,” Pyatt tweeted this morning at 8:06am.

Initial reports indicated that 10 individuals approached the residence, which is supposed to be one of the best guarded buildings in Athens, and threw paint and a smoke grenade at a distance from the residence.

There is a bullet proof guard post exactly at the spot of the foray but no one came out. It is unclear if there was a police guard inside.

Eight individuals were immediately tracked down and remanded in custody by Greek police.

Solidarity for a terrorist

Today’s attack was similar in terms of the modus operandi to a paint attack near the side garage of the embassy on 6 January, 2019, when Rouvikonas assumed responsibility for the attack and cited as the cause US “imperialism”, the decline of US power in a multi-polar world , and Washington’s supposed abandonment of its Kurdish allies in Syria.

The trail of blood

However, today’s foray struck directly at the security of the US Embassy and American diplomats as it was linked to the horror of the murder of five US diplomats.

Rouvikonas on a well-known anarchist website declared that it conducted the foray to protest alleged US interference as the reason that Koufodinas was denied his seventh consecutive furlough, which is allowed by current Greek law.

N17 was responsible for the murders of four American diplomats plus the driver of one– CIA station chief Richard Welch (December, 1975) US Navy Captain George Tsantes (JUSMAGG) and his driver Nick Veloutsos (November, 1983), US Navy Captain William Nordeen (June, 1988), and US Air Force Sergeant Ronald O. Stewart (March, 1991).

Master Sergeant Robert H. Judd of JUSMAGG (Joint United States Military Aid Group to Greece), who was on a mail run, narrowly escaped being killed when he switched lanes and stepped on the gas.

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