Greek Finance Minister attacked by anarchists at Athens restaurant

Greece' s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and his wife Danae Stratou were verbally assaulted by a group of about 30 anarchists while dining with a friend at a restaurant in central Athens in the early hours of Wednesday.

No injuries were caused by bottles hurled at the minister's table and the incident ended with no police intervention, according to a Finance Ministry statement.

Varoufakis was initially targeted with verbal insults inside the restaurant and tempers calmed down after a short dialogue with the anarchists, according to the statement.

The incident happened at Exarchia, a district popular for decades with so-called anti-establishment activists, which often suffers from anarchist-linked violence, mainly with scuffles between hooded youth and police.

Varoufakis, known for moving around Athens for months without bodyguards, said that he does not consider the incident as "part of a wider effort for my 'degradation' in recent days."

On Monday Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras proceeded to a reshuffle of Greece' s team in negotiations with lenders, which was interpreted by political analysts in Athens as a move to sideline Varoufakis and improve the climate following the minister' s verbal war with several European officials. Endi