Prosecutor orders probe into riot police firebomb attack in Thessaloniki

A prosecutor on Monday ordered an urgent investigation into a firebomb attack against a riot police unit that had been guarding the Turkish Consulate in Thessaloniki on Saturday night which caused serious damage but no injuries.

The prosecutor, Lambros Tsongas, ordered two first instance prosecutors to oversee an investigation by the northern city's security police to determine to trace the perpetrators behind the attack .

In comments earlier, the head of the local union of police officers, Theodoros Tsairidis, had requested the intervention of a prosecutor, claiming that the hail of firebombs had put at risk the lives of the 20 officers who had been on duty that night.

According to Tsairidis, the assailants had aimed to kill. "They wanted to burn officers alive," he said.

The riot police van was destroyed in the attack on Saturday night when unidentified assailants lobbed around 30 firebombs at the bus. 

The leader of the conservative opposition New Democracy, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, hit out at the government over the attack, saying it was "the last straw" amid a tide of lawlessness.

An ND government would protect and support the police and let them do their job, he said.