Off the wire
• 1st LD Writethru: Gold down on positive U.S. data  • FLASH: 1 GUNMAN KILLED IN ATTACK ON FOREIGN TOURISTS' HOTEL IN EGYPT'S HURGHADA: MEDIA  • 1st LD Writethru: Shooter who wounded Philadelphia police officer says he is IS sympathizer  • Urgent: Gold down on positive U.S. data  • Finland decides to extradite suspected Russian hacker to U.S.  • Interview: U.S. scientists thrilled to receive China's top science honor  • Spanish stock market falls 1.66 pct, closes at 8,909 points  • Portugal's parliament approves restoration of 4 public holidays  • Iraqi man detained in Finland on suspicion of war crimes  • News Analysis: Concern about terrorism affects tourism habits in Italy  
You are here: 　 Home

Greek gov't, airliner condemn racist incident in Athens airport

Xinhua, January 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

Greece's government and Greek airliner Aegean condemned a racist incident that occurred last Sunday against two Palestinian passengers in the Athens airport that caused strong reactions of the Palestinian Authority.

A group of Israeli Jewish travelers caused a 1.5 hours delay in the departure of an Aegean flight to Tel Aviv on Jan. 3 when they realized that they would be travelling with two Israeli Arabs, citing "security fears."

Their concern was unfounded according to Greek police who intervened. However, in order to put an end to tensions, the two Palestinians agreed to disembark, spend the night in a hotel and get a flight the following day.

"All discriminatory treatment on grounds of racial or ethnic origin, religious or other beliefs, disability, age or sexual orientation is condemned," a Greek Justice Ministry statement commented.

In addition, Aegean Airlines Managing Director Dimitris Gerogiannis visited the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative in Greece to give assurances and further explain the situation, the Palestinian embassy in Athens said in an announcement on Friday.

Gerogiannis apologized for the incident and expressed "greatest regrets for the event" also in a letter to PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat.

Erekat had strongly condemned the incident, expressing "outrage over the discrimination."

"Naturally we reject any possibility of discrimination which is of course completely in opposition to the principles we adhere to and which our employees apply," the Aegean statement stressed. Endit