Skai says inflammatory statements have made it a target

Skai has become a target in recent years and government officials share part of the blame for that, read a statement by the broadcaster a few hours after it suffered a bomb attack on Monday that inflicted extensive damage on its premises, that also house Kathimerini newspaper and its English edition.

“The terrorist attack we suffered early this morning will not affect us; we will not be blackmailed, we are not afraid, we are not terrorized, as we have proven for many years,” the statement read.

“The state, that has the obligation to encourage the variety of voices and to protect the security of the mass media and their workers, has gone deaf to our repeated complaints about threats against Skai.

“Unfortunately Skai has become a target in the last few years. Government officials and propaganda mechanisms have made a target out of our station. After today’s dramatic development, they need to understand the gravity and the full dimension of their inflammatory statements,” the broadcaster concluded.

In a separate statement the Skai employees said “this is not the first time Skai has become a target; it has also happened several times in the past by multiple centers and with different objectives every time, but without bending at all the professionalism of the 500 employees of the group.”

Skai reported the bomb was planted inside a backpack that was hung on the ironwork between the station’s premises and the pavement in front of it.

It added that two people on a car came by, one of them hang the backpack with the bomb on the metal barrier and they went off.

Sources from the counter-terrorism unit of police spoke of at least five kilos of explosives, with the impact causing damage as high as the fifth floor of the building on the Faliro seafront, opposite the Peace and Friendship Stadium where events for the 2004 Athens Olympics were hosted.