Law enforcement authorities in Greece continued to investigate the placement of an incendiary device planted outside the entrance of the Petraki Monastery building in central Athens, where members of the Holy Synod of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece convene.
According to initial reports, three suitcases and a large cooking gas canister, all connected together, were spotted by a deacon at the site. Police were called, and the make-shift device was later neutralized by a bomb squad unit. One suspect is shown on closed circuit video climbing over a wall to place the device.
The same Church property had been targeted four years ago by unknown suspects tossing firebombs.
In a latter statement, Education and Religious Affairs Minister Niki Kerameos expressed the government’s unqualified condemnation of the attempted bombing, while referring to a “divisive and provocative action that offends our people’s religious sentiments.”
