Photojournalist recovering from surgery after police baton strike

Marios Lolos, the president of the Greek Photojournalists’ Union, who sustained serious head injuries after being struck by a police baton during skirmishes outside Parliament on Thursday night was recovering from surgery late on Friday.

Lolos underwent surgery for a cranial fracture at Hygeia hospital. Doctors said that he was taken to an intensive care unit following the surgery. The photojournalist had suffered a contusion as a result of the attack.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Greek Photojournalists’ Union decried “the barbaric and unprovoked attack,” saying that Lolos and other photojournalists have been “targeted” by riot police.

“Systematic and repeated attacks against people of the press when they are doing their jobs, which violate even the most fundamental of human rights, cannot be seen as arbitrary; even the most naive can surmise that they are meant to gag the press,” the union’s statement said.

Lolos is the third reporter in two days to have been injured in clashes at Syntagma Square.

The chief of the Greek police said on Thursday that an investigation would be conducted into allegations of excessive use of force by riot officers.

Press unions on Friday held a rally at the Citizens’ Protection Ministry on Katechaki Avenue to protest the latest attack.

Ekathimerini.com