From Ekathimerini by Yiannis Souliotis July 2, 2026
Authorities investigating a seemingly coordinated string of arson attacks in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, that resulted in the death of one person and the injury of four, are reportedly focusing on a specific group of about 30 anarchists.
They claim that members of that group – known for having previously occupied an empty city building and rooms at the Aristotle University, before being evicted from both – either carried out the attacks themselves or guided new recruits into taking action.
The three arson attacks occurred within 17 minutes, from 4.18 a.m. to 4.35 a.m. Wednesday, and targeted officials of the ruling New Democracy party.
The first attack, in the suburb of Pylaia, against an apartment building owned by Zisis Ioakeimovits, president of ND’s regional steering committee in Thessaloniki, did no damage. The improvised device, a small gas canister with a plastic bottle containing a flammable liquid, burned out on the pavement.
Five minutes later, a similar mechanism was thrown at the apartment building where former lawmaker Savvas Anastasiadis lives, in Thessaloniki’s Toumba district. The entrance’s glass panel cracked. Police put out the fire.
“I was outside Thessaloniki when the attack on my home happened,” Anastasiadis, an MP from 2015-2023, said. “We will neither be intimidated nor stop doing what we do,” he added.
The third attack, at 4.35 a.m., against the building where former parliamentary candidate for New Democracy Afroditi Nestora lives, in the Harilaou district, was by far the most serious.
In that case, the fire, set upon one of the cars parked near the apartment building’s entrance, spread quickly. The building’s residents, panicking, attempted to flee.
A woman, identified by authorities as Nestora’s mother, suffered extensive burns and died later Wednesday at the intensive care unit of the northern port city’s Ippokrateio hospital, where she had been intubated.
The four injured people – Nestora herself, her father and two other unidentified people – were hurt at the same location. Their condition is not considered threatening.
The progression of the attacks leads police to believe that it was the same person or people, riding a motorbike, who set off the devices.
The police’s counterterrorism division has taken over the investigation of the attacks, in tandem with local officers.
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