Journalist’s home attacked with gas canister bomb

Police in Athens on Tuesday were investigating an attack on the apartment building that is home to prominent Skai TV journalist and commentator Aris Portosalte.

According to reports, unknown assailants detonated a makeshift explosive device in front of the main entrance of the apartment building in the northern Athens suburb of Vrilissia.

The device was made up of four camping gas canisters, of which three went off, causing significant damage to the building’s entrance.

The incident is being treated as an attack on the outspoken journalist, who has been the victim of similar assaults in the past.

“Unfortunately, there is terrorism in Greece,” Portosalte told Skai, commenting on the attack.

“I have been a target for more than 10 years because I speak my mind,” the commentator said.

“The arson attack on the building where journalist Aris Portosalte lives is a direct assault on freedom of expression in this country and is absolutely condemnable,” Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said in a tweet.