ATHENS – With increasing signs the neighborhood of Exarchia – despite the presence of a police barracks – is being taken over by anarchists and drug dealers, New Democracy Mayoral candidate Costas Bakoyiannis was heckled and a riot cop was injured after a Molotov Cocktail attack on his unit.

Anarchists threw firebombs, rocks and other projects in the attack a few hours after Bakoyiannis, whose father Pavlos Bakoyiannis was assassinated in 1989 by killers from the Nov. 17 terror group, was jeered while campaigning, said Kathimerini.

He had been talking with residents holding a rally to complain about growing violence in the grimy, graffiti-covered neighborhood and said that the taunters disparaged his father’s memory in their jeers.

The ruling Radical Left SYRIZA of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has been accused by critics of condoning the violence in a bid to re-establish Leftist credentials after he repeatedly reneged on anti-austerity promises and buried workers, pensioners and the poor with more brutal measures.

In a post on Facebook, Bakoyiannis, who is seen leading the Mayor’s race with elections coming in May, said police aren’t keeping the neighborhood’s residents safe. SYRIZA is far behind New Democracy in May 26 polls for the European Parliament and national elections required to be held before October.