ATHENS – The Movement for Change (KINAL) in an announcement on Tuesday accused the government of authoritarianism and callousness, in response to the incidents on Chios and Lesvos early on Tuesday. It strongly criticised the government’s tactics, noting that “we are all islanders in the face of the ND government’s choice of brutal repression”.

“The landing of riot police, in the context of the authoritarian ‘Law and Order’ dogma that New Democracy wants to impose on the islands does not target real sources of lawlessness but protesting residents, namely the victims of the government’s policy,” said the announcement.

KINAL underlined that the government, through the absence of any kind of dialogue with even members of its own party, many of whom serve in the N. Aegean regional authority and municipalities, is provoking the islanders. It also slammed the “unbelievable” statement by government spokesperson Stelios Petsas that “everything is being done for the benefit of the islanders,” noting that it was an “insult to common sense” and “challenges our democratic feelings”.