File Photo : Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. (Agence France-Presse)
Athens:
Greece's maverick Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis today said he had been involved in a tense showdown with anarchists who confronted him while dining at a restaurant.
In a ministry statement, Varoufakis said he and his wife had been threatened by masked anarchists at the working-class Athens district of Exarchia yesterday evening.
The anarchists threw objects at the couple, missing them, and told the minister to leave the area.
The minister described the incident as an "attack" but then argued that the group were not actually trying to hurt them.
After leaving the restaurant, Varoufakis said he spoke to the anarchists until tempers calmed.
The 53-year-old economics professor is currently engaged in critical negotiations with Greece's EU-IMF creditors on a new loan deal for the country.
But Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras this week reshuffled his negotiating team after Varoufakis reportedly irritated his fellow European ministers in successive meetings.
European economic affairs chief Pierre Moscovici has described Varoufakis as "not always easy" to work with.
In a ministry statement, Varoufakis said he and his wife had been threatened by masked anarchists at the working-class Athens district of Exarchia yesterday evening.
The anarchists threw objects at the couple, missing them, and told the minister to leave the area.
The minister described the incident as an "attack" but then argued that the group were not actually trying to hurt them.
After leaving the restaurant, Varoufakis said he spoke to the anarchists until tempers calmed.
The 53-year-old economics professor is currently engaged in critical negotiations with Greece's EU-IMF creditors on a new loan deal for the country.
But Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras this week reshuffled his negotiating team after Varoufakis reportedly irritated his fellow European ministers in successive meetings.
European economic affairs chief Pierre Moscovici has described Varoufakis as "not always easy" to work with.
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