Mitsotakis visits Thessaloniki hospital after arson attacks on New Democracy officials, vows zero tolerance
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis travelled to Thessaloniki on Wednesday afternoon to visit victims of a series of early-morning arson attacks targeting homes of three New Democracy officials. Five people were hospitalised, one in critical condition.
Overnight arson attacks
Three coordinated arson attacks using gas canisters struck homes of New Democracy officials in Thessaloniki early on 1 July 2026. The first, at 04:18, targeted properties linked to party's local president Zisis Ioakeimovits in Pylaia, but caused no damage. Six minutes later, a gas canister exploded at the entrance of a building where former MP Savvas Anastasiadis lives, cracking glass and causing discoloration. The third and most severe attack occurred at 04:35, setting alight two cars and two motorcycles outside the residence of ND candidate Aphrodite Nestora in the Charilaou district.
- Attack targeting property linked to Zisis Ioakeimovits in Pylaia; gas canister set on road, no damage.
- Gas canister exploded at entrance of building where Savvas Anastasiadis lives; glass cracked and discoloration.
- Fire from gas canister engulfed two cars and two motorcycles outside Aphrodite Nestora's residence; five people hospitalised.
The human toll
The third attack left five people hospitalised at the city's Hippocrates Hospital. Aphrodite Nestora suffered light burns on her hands and legs and respiratory issues; her father had respiratory problems as well. Two other residents of the apartment building were also injured. The most serious case is Nestora's mother, who is intubated in the Intensive Care Unit in critical condition. Nestora herself was later visited by the prime minister after she underwent treatment in the surgical clinic.
Prime minister's hospital visit
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis interrupted an event presenting the ruling party's new digital platform in Athens to fly to Thessaloniki around midday. He arrived at Hippocrates Hospital accompanied by the Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis, Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis, and ND political secretary Konstantinos Kyranakis. At the hospital he was greeted by Zisis Ioakeimovits, one of the targets of the attacks who escaped physical harm. After visiting the wards, the prime minister spoke to reporters.
Violence has no place in an organised society. Those who don the mantle of social struggles to commit such acts are nothing but common criminals. They will be treated as such. I have absolute confidence in the Greek police. We will find those who committed this vile act and bring them to justice.
A defiant political message
Earlier in Athens, Mitsotakis had addressed New Democracy lawmakers, voicing revulsion and anger at what he called a "cowardly, murderous, terrorist attack." He invoked the party's history of suffering from domestic terrorism and insisted there would be "zero tolerance for any form of new terrorism" in Greece.
We left those times in the past. Our faction has paid a heavy blood toll from domestic terrorism and will not allow the revival of such phenomena.
The prime minister linked the atmosphere to recent law-enforcement actions: some in Thessaloniki, he suggested, were "unsettled" by the end of decades-old building occupations and maybe felt the time had come for "new revolutionary gymnastics." His message to the perpetrators was blunt: "We will find you and lead you to justice." No group has claimed responsibility so far, and police have not made any arrests, but Mitsotakis expressed full faith in the investigation.
