ATHENS, GREECE: Greece’s most notorious criminals, Vassilis Palaiocostas, and his accomplice, Alket Rizai, made a spectacular helicopter escape from Korydallos maximum security prison. The jailbreak was even more dramatic, because the same two guys escaped the same way in 2006.

Guards assumed the helicopter fly over was part of a routine check by prison officials. The chopper circled twice, and then lowered a rope ladder to the two prisoners as they exercised. Needless to say, this is extremely embarrassing for the Greek penal system. A lot of the articles about the break out use words like “chaotic” and “disarray” to describe Greek prisons.

Guards opened fire once they realized what was happening, but no one stopped the helicopter, and one guard shot himself in the hand. The prisoners didn’t fire back, but guards reported seeing a woman in black holding an assault rifle.

Palaiocostas, already infamous for his first helicopter escape, was in jail for abducting a prominent Greek industrialist. His trial was supposed to begin within the week.

The helicopter was found abandoned in a suburb of Athens.

Four guards and a helicopter pilot have been arrested, three top officials have been fired, and the Justice Minister has called for a probe into the bank accounts of everyone working near the ex-prisoners.

In the Kathimerini article, the writer points out twice that Rizai is Albanian. None of the papers from other countries felt that was important, but to the Kathimerini, it meant something. Does anyone have info on ethnic relations in Greece?

Kathimerini article: Convicts repeat helicopter escape

Al Jazeera English article: Arrests over Greek prison escape

ATHENS, GREECE: Today, as the Agrocultural Minister is in Brussels convincing the EU of the need for a stimulis package, a boat load (literaly) of Cretan farmers will run their tractors into the city, hoping to drive home (also literally) their demands for help. The Greek government has already offered 500 million Euros worth of hand-outs to the farmers (borrowed from the EU), but the farmers don’t believe that is enough. They have been using tractors as road blocks and staging other protests all over the country.

It’s interesting that the Kathimerini article points out that the Alternate Interior Minister is Cretan. There are possibly some ethnic politics as an undercurrent to the protest.

I’m not a farmer by trade, but I doubt if tractors are very fuel efficient. Hopefully, the hand outs will be enough to reimburse them for gas.

Article from Kathimerini English: Farmers head for Athens