Police union laments punishment of embassy guard, precinct chief

The union of police's special guards criticised a decision to remove the director of a police precinct and a special guard from their positions, in response to an attack on the Iranian Embassy in Athens by members of the anarchist group Rouvikonas in the early hours of Monday.

The director of the Psychico police precinct was to be transferred to another division as the embassy was one of the buildings that supposedly fell under his supervision.

At the same time, the police guard who had been on duty at the time of the attack by 10 members of Rouvikonas, who smashed the guard box, and threw paint at the embassy façade, is to return to patrol duty in Athens.

“It is at least unacceptable to seek to pass on responsibility for the state's inability to stop Rouvikonas through justice, to the policeman's possible inadequacy,” the union said in a statement.

“We therefore call on the leadership [of the police] to recall the 'ostracism' of our colleagues so they can be 'tried' by the disciplinary bodies,” it added.