State Department: Designations of three Greek Foreign Terrorist Organizations

From the State Department:

Ian Kelly
Department Spokesman,  Office of the Spokesman
Bureau of Public Affairs
Washington, DC
May 18, 2009

On April 22, 2009, the Secretary of State designated Revolutionary Struggle (RS) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended (INA). RS is a Greek terrorist organization responsible for numerous terrorist acts against Greek, U.S., and other targets since 2003, including the 2007 RPG attack on the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece and the March 9, 2009 detonation of a bomb outside a Citibank branch in Athens. Secretary Clinton took this action in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury.

Also on April 22, 2009, the Secretary revoked the FTO designation of the Revolutionary Nuclei (RN) after completing the five year review of the FTO designation required by Section 219 of the INA. The Secretary concluded that the circumstances that were the basis for the prior designation of RN as an FTO have changed in such a manner to warrant revocation of the FTO designation.

The Secretary has maintained the FTO designation of Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17N) after completing the five year review of the FTO designation required by Section 219 of the INA.

Designations of foreign terrorist organizations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business. The consequences of these designations include a prohibition against the provision of material support or resources to FTOs and the freezing of all property and interests in property of the organization that are in the United States, or come within the United States, or the control of U.S. persons.


Meanwhile, new ones keep cropping up, as reported in Monsters and Critics:

New group claims responsibility in latest Greek bombing

Athens - A newly emerged left-wing militant group claimed responsibility for a bomb which exploded early Friday outside the offices of a tax office in an Athens suburb causing extensive damage, but no injuries.

The bomb had been planted outside the offices of the tax office in the Athens suburb of Psyhiko.

Officials received a warning after unknown individuals called the daily newspaper Eleftherotypia 10 minutes before the bomb was set to go off.

The explosion caused extensive damage of the building.

A newly emerged group calling itself the 'Armed Revolutionary Struggle' claimed responsibility for the explosion.

The attack is the latest in a series of almost daily violence that has rocked the country since the police shooting of a teenager in December, triggering Greece's worst riots in decades fuelled by high youth unemployment.

Over the past few weeks a string of firebombings by suspected anarchists caused damage to two police stations, banks, car dealerships and government buildings.

The violence has embarrassed Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' government, which has been criticized for its inability to protect citizens.

The government has vowed to crack down on the increasing violence and has sought advice from British police.


Which adds irony to this, in the Financial Times:

Opinion: It's time for the Greeks to turn things round – again

By George Pagoulatos

In an ironically symbolic picture from last December's riots in Athens, the poster of Greece's National Tourism Organisation appeared behind a shattered window, featuring the slogan: “Greece: The True Experience!”...