“Yesterday we witnessed an extreme coordinated murderous attack against three ND officials in Thessaloniki… This terrorist act was a cowardly act by extreme exponents of violence who operate under the cloak of a supposed ideology against three people simply because they do not agree with their ideology,” stated the government spokesperson, Pavlos Marinakis, during the briefing of political editors.
“We have absolute confidence in the Authorities. We believe that the investigations will soon bear fruit and that both the direct perpetrators and the moral instigators will be identified and brought before Justice to be judged in the strictest and fairest way. The message we are sending is clear: Terrorism will not win! No one is going to be afraid,” he noted.
He also pointed out that “as important as it is for the hoods to come off, it is equally valuable for the masks to fall. Let some reflect on how much harm they have done by choosing, all these years, to baptize attacks on people’s homes, offices and property in whatever form these attacks take each time as supposed ‘interventions’. Those who call the occupations of spaces inside and outside Universities ‘activism’, often rushing to offer an ‘umbrella’ of political protection to criminals of every kind. Those who, when occupations were being turned into libraries, were there with sledgehammers. Let those who reduced the penalties for Molotov cocktails reflect on the consequences of their initiatives on the grounds that, as has chillingly been said, they are dangerous depending on which side one is on, while they oppose every intervention to toughen the Penal Code”.
Apparently, Mr. Marinakis said, “these pressures were retaliation because a government was found that, after a delay of decades, removed all these criminals, the extreme elements of the far left, from the universities, threw them out. But that is not enough. Every perpetrator of an act must go to prison. The police must catch these people. We must not underestimate attacks with leaflets, these thugs coming on scooters, doing as they please… All of them are looking for blood, for retaliation. The hoods must come off, the guilty must be arrested. Wherever they are, we must find them. How many times do the parties of the left defend murderers?”
Mr. Marinakis also referred to the Grigoropoulos murder in 2008 and what followed it.
“It was a bad night, not only for the country, but also for ND. We too have responsibilities, but there is no longer either room or time for such behaviors. I am not referring to the former prime minister, but to those who had the operational responsibility to uphold the law. The state must find a way to protect us from criminals, it cannot look on with indifference. It must send all these people to justice. Obviously the parties’ statements are good, but we will not forget the many times that the left feared condemning criminals and accused the police. Let them think about how much harm the justification of these actions has done all these years.”
Extraordinary circumstances
In response to a question about the cap on the profit margin, the government spokesperson underlined that it is “a measure that is applied in extraordinary circumstances, the free economy cannot operate indefinitely with a cap, it is in the drawer to be activated if needed”.
Mr. Marinakis, when asked to comment on the statements of blue MPs Stelios Petsas and Zoi Rapti, that it is not possible for the ND Secretary of Strategic Planning, Vasilis Fevgas, to remain in his position after his statement about the law on same-sex couples and Antonis Samaras, said:
“These are not unreasonable statements, I will not dwell on the substance as much as on Mr. Fevgas’s manner. ND is a large party in which all views are heard in the bodies, within the framework of dialogue. This intervention is not assessed as serious and we move on.”
Regarding the refugee housing complexes, he stressed: “The evacuation of a space by those who occupy it illegally does not depend on any funding. We are not going to listen to anyone asking for something illegal”.
At the same time, he kept his distance from the statement of the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, N. Tachiaos, that Thrace is not a border region: “He subsequently gave explanations to restore the statement. Especially when we hold a public position, every word we say requires great caution, especially when we speak about Thrace and our border residents. These people understand certain things much more than others.”
In response to a question about reports concerning Maria Karystianou, who is said to have bought—through a company—property from a fund, he noted:
“I do not have the authority to assess this specific case, however I do not believe that we will experience once again a politician who says big words about something he wants to be applied to everyone except himself”.
Regarding last night’s dinner of Antonis Samaras with 3 incumbent ND MPs and the possibility of their transfer to the former prime minister’s possible new party, Mr. Marinakis said: “We have no concern, nor do these things happen over a meal”.