A bomb exploded outside Greece’s parliament building in central Athens on Saturday evening in a well policed area where some of the capital best hotels and finance ministry are located.
No one was injured by the blast.
The explosion around 8:00 pm was preceded by a telephone call to the Eleftherotypia newspaper warning of the blast.
Police evacuated the area around the site where passers-by normally stroll close to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The explosive went off 17 minutes after the phone call, a little less than the time given by the anonymous caller.
The device which was fitted with a timer was hidden in a garbage bin a few metres (yards) from an Evzones sentry box.
Anti-terrorism officers were investigating the attack, the first to target the centre of Greek democracy, which police blamed on extreme-left militants or anarchists.
Police suspect leftist guerrilla group Fire Conspiracy Cells, which claimed responsibility for the attack against the insurance company, may be behind Saturday’s explosion, a police official said.
“Fragments of the explosive device are being gathered and taken to the police lab for investigation,” a police official said.
“There are first reports of minor damage inside the parliament building, some broken glass. The blast was captured by the security cameras outside the building.”
Police were also checking video footage from surveillance cameras at the site to determine whether they had taped the perpetrator placing the explosive device.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou told reporters that Greeks would not be intimidated by such acts.
“My message is simple: democracy cannot be terrorized,” he said when he arrived at his parliament office. “This highly symbolic place for Greeks is not guarded and will not be,” said Citizen’s Protection Minister Michalis Chryssohoidis.
“We will not put Athens under a police regime; this is a free and open city.”
Chryssohoidis said he was convinced that the perpetrators of the attack would be “arrested and brought to justice quickly”.
