Inquiry into Greek 'strip search'

By Malcolm Brabant
BBC News, Athens

Ethnos printed photos showing a man apparently being made to strip naked

Greek police are investigating reports that a number of officers humiliated a suspect by carrying out a strip search in the centre of Athens.

The inquiry was ordered after a Greek newspaper published photographs of the incident involving a man who appears to be of Asian or Middle Eastern descent.

He was told to drop his trousers and underwear in the middle of the street, according to Ethnos.

The report was headlined "Guantanamo images in the centre of Athens".

The photos have tarnished the image of the police as they try to crack down on spiralling crime and violence in the city centre.

Pictures of the event were taken from the offices of a leftwing organisation which campaigns on behalf of immigrants' rights.

Its spokesman, Petros Constantinou, described the incident as a case of extreme racism.

The police have launched an internal inquiry and say that any officer implicated in the affair will be subject to disciplinary sanctions.

Troubled area

The episode will undermine the police as they struggle to cope with the rapidly changing nature of the area around Athens's famous Omonia Square.

Side streets around Omonia are a magnet for illegal immigrants, who live in squalid accommodation and find it difficult, if not impossible, to support themselves.

They have been blamed by Laos, a rightwing political party, for a surge in drug crime and violence.

Athens used to pride itself as a safe and peaceful city but that reputation was shattered in August when 11 people were severely wounded during a battle between two rival African drug gangs wielding swords, axes and machetes.

The Athens Prefect, Yiannis Sgouros, has warned that action must be taken to clean up the area to prevent it becoming an arena for racial clashes and gang warfare.

He has described the situation as a ticking time bomb and he wants to expropriate abandoned buildings to re-house illegal immigrants in "safe places".