Crime in south Athens suburbs: out of control?

Headlines like "Explosion in a residential complex in Glyfada" don't exactly inspire confidence

Greek media report that in the early hours of January 18 a bomb went off outside a “luxurious residential complex on Oinoi Street in Glyfada.” The screen grab above is from the newspaper Protothema. Thankfully no one was injured, but there has been an uptick in crime in the southern suburbs of Athens, from mafia-style hits that often seem to involve Albanian elements to nasty stuff like this.

Check out some of these Greek reader comments (like the above, in translation):

It’s worth noting that areas like Glyfada are generally considered to be on the upscale side and indeed they are. They are also fairly densely populated. The scene of the crime here is only about a block away from a bunch of nice restaurants and cafes. So an explosive device going off in the middle of the night there is sort of like the same thing happening in the Upper West Side—and you can bet if that happened the shock and outrage would be heard from one end of Manhattan to the other.

The reaction in Athens is more muted, at least for now. Police are investigating an extortion angle. But it’s also worth noting that it wasn’t too long ago that there was an incident involving a bomb of some sort outside the offices of Greek newspaper Kathimerini, located in the Faliro section of southern Athens and which it is reminded has a partnership with The New York Times. There was significant damage, the building was shrouded in blue netting for a while while repairs were made and security at the building, always tight, now resembles something like Fort Knox.

Internationally the big “boom” you read about mostly concerns hotel construction along the Athens Riviera and notably the huge reboot of the former international airport site at Ellinikon, which will involve a casino, maybe branded by Hard Rock which is an American company. Which is all well and good, but if local residents feel unsafe as local press reports indicate, it’s not at all clear whether tourists will feel safe either. They have to leave the hotel bar sometime, after all.