Opposition slams Rouvikonas attack on Athens Voice newspaper

Opposition New Democracy on Thursday condemned an attack by the Rouvikonas anarchist group on the offices of the free press newspaper Athens Voice, calling it an “attack on democracy.”

“What sundry Rouvikones have failed to grasp is that the citizens will not be terrorized or intimidated,” the center-right party said in a tweet, responding to the actions of some 15 members of the group at the paper’s Athens offices earlier in the day.

In an internet post, Rouvikonas said the attack – which involved smashing furniture and equipment with crowbars and splashing paint on the office’s walls – was a protest at an off-color comment in the newspaper’s online edition referring to the death of a private caregiver at a Piraeus hospital.

Gayane Kassardjian, a 50-year-old Armenian woman, died of injuries after jumping out of a window to evade a possible inspection of her residence and work permit at Nikaia General Hospital on Saturday.