1980 Greek Deep State: Firebombing Independent Traders for EEC Entry

In 1980 prior to Greece’s entry to the EEC there was an organized plan of burning down Greece’s premier shops Minion and Katratzos. This was the beginning of the end of Greek shopkeepers and the entrance of large multinationals in our country.


This nightmarish scenario was repeated on 3rd June 1981 with the parallel burning of the shops Klaoudatos and Atene and in a smaller extension on 4th July Dragonas and three days later in the shops Lambropoulos in Piraeus. The barrage of these firebombed buildings buried Greek shopkeepers and the entrance of large foreign multinationals in our country.


On the morning 19th December 1980 we had two parallel fires that destroyed two of the most historic shops in Athens ‘Minion’ and ‘Katrantzos’ during the holiday period. We are dealing with fires and the police labelled them terrorist events.








3am in the morning on Friday eyewitness accounts in both stores heard explosions and seconds later saw fires emerge from both buildings. In a few minutes big fires burnt the buildings to the ground due to the stock inside and not enough walls dividing the areas.










The firebrigade that arrived in both areas with 38 vehicles and 170men had a difficult job to do. Their main aim was to contain the fire so it didn’t spread to the surrounding buildings. The fire was of such intensity that Minion only had the frame left whilst the Katrantzo store collapsed. The damage was equivalent to 2 billion drachmas. Until today both cases Minion and Katrantzos and the other four remain without knowing who the perpetrators were and they have been legally timed out.