Exarchia

Seven people were temporarily detained late Thursday night in clashes with riot police in the central Athenian district of Exarchia.

The government and the City of Athens are reportedly drafting an ambitious plan to revamp the district of Exarchia, which has long been considered a haven for self-styled anarchists and drug dealers.

The vision to unify the buildings and grounds of the National Archaeological Museum and the National Technical University of Athens on Patission Street is not a new one. 

Many past prime ministers, mayors, experts and journalists have voiced their support for the implementation of such a plan. 

Opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis plans to "restore the stature" of the justice system by appointing top judges with an "unimpeachable reputation," bolster the police and "immediately abolish" a ban on law enforcement officers on university grounds if his New Democracy party is elected to government in Sunday's snap polls.

A group of self-styled anarchists firebombed the headquarters of socialist PASOK party in central Athens on Tuesday night, following a march to demand a prison leave for convicted terrorist Dimitris Koufodinas.

A large-scale anti-drug police operation was underway on Thursday morning in the central Athenian district of Exarchia.

Officers are focusing on three apartments located at the corners of Tositsa and Trikoupi streets.
According to reports, the area has been cordoned off by police. No further details were immediately available on the operation. 

Policing in the central Athenian district of Exarchia only lasts until the TV cameras are switched off. This is the sad conclusion to be drawn from Thursday's spectacular police operation whose apparent objective was to mitigate the bad publicity in the wake of the attack on Hellenic Coast Guard officers during a drug raid in the same neighborhood earlier in the week.

Police officers during an operation to evict people from a neighborhood where two buildings are occupied by alleged migrants, in the Exarchia district, central Athens, Thursday. According to police sources, more than 90 people have been brought for questioning. According to reports, locals had complained about violent incidents in the area. [Pantelis Saitas/EPA]

Police on Thursday arrested one of two women who had eluded authorities during a botched drug crackdown by the coast guard in central Athens last week.

The woman, identified as a Greek-Australian, was tracked down at a squat in the district of Exarchia during a police sweep in the area that has resulted in three more arrests.

Police in Athens arrested three people and detained more than 90 in a large operation to evict squatters in two buildings in the central district of Exarchia early Thursday morning. 
The raid on Tzavella street followed a similar operation in a house on Solomou street where three people were detained for possession of cannabis.