Over 200 being probed over opposition to Skouries gold mine

A total of 12 case files involving 210 suspects have been created by authorities investigating opposition by Halkidiki residents to the gold mine run by Hellas Gold in Skouries, northern Greece.

Kathimerini understands that one of these cases concerns the arson attack on the company’s offices at the mine in February, another regards the clashes between protesters and police in May that led to one officer being injured, while a third is based on a separate confrontation which took place in September last year.

Authorities are treating the suspects in these three cases as having formed a criminal organization, the same charge that has been leveled against the leadership of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.

Sources say that three suspects already in custody are to be charged as the ringleaders of the alleged organization.

Two of the four people being held in custody over the February arson attack were released last week.