Greek finance minister sent bullet in the mail

ATHENS - Reuters

Greece's Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras leaves the Prime Minister's office in Athens December 7, 2012. REUTERS/John Kolesidis

Greece's finance minister was sent a bullet and a death threat from a group protesting home foreclosures, police officials said on Monday, in the latest incident to raise fears of growing political violence.

The package was sent by a little-known group called "Cretan Revolution", which warned the minister against any efforts to seize homes and evict homeowners, police sources said. The group sent similar letters to tax offices in Crete last week.

Yannis Stournaras, a respected economist who became finance minister in June, has angered many Greeks by championing austerity policies demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund as the price for bailout aid.

There have been a spate of small attacks in recent weeks in Greece, including makeshift bomb explosions outside the homes of journalists and political figures as well as shots fired at an office used by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Those attacks were followed by a bomb explosion at an Athens shopping mall last month which wounded two people and stoked fears that Greece could be headed for a new bout of leftist violence amid its worst economic crisis since World War II.

Some of the attacks were claimed by leftist groups protesting capitalism and police raids against squats in the centre of Athens.