Editorial: Lies and responsibilities

From the first hours of last summer's disastrous wilfire in Mati the weaknesses of crumbling state services, a lack of coordination, and the absence of even rudimentary emergency plans were glaring.

One witnessed in amazement the cynical initial attempts of the government to hide the deadly repercussions of the blaze and the frantic efforts of competent government officials to shift the blame.

One saw the PM's inconceivable effort at the Fire Service coordination centre to manipulate public opinion when those responsible already knew that dozens had died.

The recent revelation by SKAI television of dialogues between firefighters and residents further scandalised public opinion and fully confirmed all the charges lodged nearly one year ago about the cynical and heartless stance of the government.

The entire Greek press at the time clearly described the government's botched handling of the crisis and the break-down of the Fire Service and of the civil protection general secretariat. The media noted the absence of Attica Prefecture officials and of municipal authorities as well as the cynicism of the PM's communications team which was headed by Mr. Tsipras himself.

The government blasted newspapers and other media for supposedly acting as propanda vehicles serving the opposition and for allegedly manufacturing charges.

As time passed, the government's crude, propagandistic lies collapsed with a bang and the media reports were confirmed.

The public was even more shocked nearly a year later when the worst suspicions about the catastrophe were confirmed. The dialogues between officials handling the emergency demonstrated incompetence and scared people, even as the government's excuses enraged everyone.

This is aggravated...