Police officers demand protection at anti-auction demos

Police officers staged a demonstration outside Thessaloniki Police Headquarters on Thursday to protest their working conditions following violent clashes outside a notary office on Wednesday instigated by people opposing auctions of foreclosed properties.

Six policemen were injured in the scuffles and the union representing officers in Thessaloniki announced that it will take legal action against the perpetrators. It also noted that it is “against auctions,” adding that the police cannot “in any way be a punching bag between citizens and the government.”

Meanwhile, Zoe Constantopoulou, former parliamentary speaker and leader of the far-left anti-bailout Sailing for Freedom party, called on notaries, lawyers and police officers to “resist the crime of auctioning off the homes of Greeks.”

In a post on the Freedom TV website, she said that electronic auctions are illegal and are being used so that “they can take away our homes while they sell off the country.”