[PEN-L:6322] (Fwd) ANGRY GREEKS HIT NATO SUPPLY LINES - The Guardian (UK)

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Date sent:              Fri, 30 Apr 1999 12:51:37 -0700
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Subject:                ANGRY GREEKS HIT NATO SUPPLY LINES - The Guardian (UK)

The Guardian (UK)                               Friday April 30, 1999 
 
ANGRY GREEKS HIT NATO SUPPLY LINES 

        Protests: Trains blocked and strikes threatened 

        By Helena Smith in Athens 

        Greek opposition to Nato's campaign intensified yesterday as 
protesters targeted British troops, tanks and trucks travelling to join 
allied forces in neighbouring Macedonia. 
        Some 200 British trucks carrying containers, and military 
vehicles found themselves being pelted with fruit and vegetables 
after demonstrators moved Nato road signs and redirected the 
convoy to an outdoor market in Salonika.
        The northern city's port is the alliance's major transit point.
        'We wanted to show in a humorous way that across Greece 
people don't like what Nato is doing,' said Agapis Sahinis. 'The 
Serbs are our friends.'
        Earlier, protesters blocked rail lines to stop a Skopje-bound 
train carrying 72 British tanks and 31 light armoured vehicles from 
leaving Salonika. The equipment - part of the second British battle 
group currently being deployed to Nato's base in Macedonia - had 
just been unloaded from a British freighter, Sea Centurion.
        Greek railway personnel last night threatened to strike if the 
country's trains continued to transport Nato troops and supplies.
        At the small international airport on Corfu, thousands of 
protesters staged running battles with riot police after spotting Nato 
aircraft on the tarmac. Corfu is being used as a transit point for aid 
to Albania.
        The growing opposition has put the Greek government on the 
defensive. One cabinet minister warned that the government could 
fall if Athens, which has resolutely refused to participate in the 
military action, was asked to provide logistical help for a ground 
invasion.
        Although Greece is anxious to be seen as a loyal Nato member, 
98 per cent of its population support their Orthodox religious 
brethren in Serbia - a country with which Athens has traditionally 
enjoyed warm ties. Anti-war demonstrations have been vast and 
daily.
        Some Greeks in the small but powerful Communist party 
(KKE) last week vowed to join their 'beleaguered brethren' as 
human shields in Belgrade. Greek mercenaries have gone to 
Kosovo to fight what many describe as a 'holy war'.
        Yesterday, the United States ambassador to Athens, Nicholas 
Burns, formally complained to the government after a series of 
attacks on local American concerns. On Tuesday the urban Greek 
guerrilla group, Revolutionary Cells, threatened to step up attacks 
against Western targets in Athens if the Nato bombing continued.