Koukaki arrests were conducted by the book, minister says

Citizens' Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis on Wednesday responded to a letter from jurist and academic Nikos Alivizatos, who heads a committee established by the minister to monitor police behavior, regarding allegations of police brutality during a crackdown on anarchist squats in the downtown Athens district of Koukaki earlier in the day.

In his letter following Alivizatos' demand that an inquiry be launched into a family's claims that police officers forced their way into their house without warrant and used excessive force during the arrest of the family's two sons and father, Chrysochoidis denied the allegations, saying that a judicial official was present at the raid and that there were "no incidents of police violence."

The minister added that the family's claims will in any case be sent to the Ombudsman for investigation and will also become the...