Hooded men attack former Greek minister Yanis Varufakis in Athens

Yanis Varufakis

The former Finance Minister of Greece, Yanis Varufakis, was attacked this Friday by several hooded men in the Athenian neighborhood of Exarchia, his political formation indicated, after a group of people discovered the left-wing politician in a restaurant, Greek media reported this Saturday (11.03.2023).

When Varufakis went out into the street, several hooded men threw him to the ground, kicked him and punched him in the face. The former minister was treated at a hospital for a broken nose.

Varufakis himself thanked on Twitter for the solidarity shown to him after the attack and denied that the attackers were anarchists or leftists. Rather, he maintained, they were “thugs for hire” who had accused him of betraying Greece during the 2015 debt crisis, when he was finance minister in the government of the Radical Left Coalition, a party better known as Syriza.

His party, Mera25, called the attack “fascist.” The economist is now a deputy and his formation have a voting intention of 3.5% in the polls.