Unidentified gunmen opened fire on the Israeli embassy in Athens with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in the early hours of Friday (December 12), police said, but no injuries or serious damage were reported.
Four people on two motorcycles fired shots at the embassy building in a northern suburb of Athens. Bullets were lodged in the walls and 54 shell cases were found about 40 metres (yards) from the building, police said.
The Greek government condemned the incident.
“Greece remains a safe country and those who are systematically making efforts to create problems at a crucial time for the country should know they will find the state and the majority of the public against them,” Greek Public Order MinisterVassilis Kikilias said.
Police cordoned off the area around the embassy, which had not been a target in other acts of violence in Greece in recent years as an economic crisis raises social and political tensions.
Shots were fired at the German ambassador’s residence in Athens last year.
Bomb and arson attacks that cause little damage and rarely injure are common in Greece, which has a long history of far-leftist violence.
[Reuters]