ATHENS – Visiting the Athens district of Vyronas on Wednesday, main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance President Alexis Tsipras emphasised the extremely volatile state created by the cost-of-living crisis and its impact on the average household, as well as the need for an immediate solution.

He also accused Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of being “shut away in a glass cage” and not daring to walk in any neighbourhood or market without a strong police guard.

The prime minister had to understand that “he created this crisis, he multiplied it, long before the clouds of war gathered in our neighbourhood, through his disastrous choices,” Tsipras added. Among these he listed the privatisation of the Public Power Corporation (PPC), a too-rapid phasing out of lignite, excessive prices paid for natural gas and a lack of effective market controls which led to the formation of cartels.

“There is no choice apart from supporting society. I call on him, if he does not understand this, to realise that the best thing, for himself as well, is to [hold elections],” Tsipras said.