December 7, 2008

Anti-Police Riots Spread in Greece

By REUTERS
Filed at 12:52 p.m. ET
ATHENS (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters rampaged through Athens and the northern Greek
city of Thessaloniki on Sunday, burning dozens of shops and vehicles in a second day of rioting
after police shot dead a 15-year-old boy.
Greece's worst protests in years erupted in the capital late on Saturday after the shooting of the
teenager, identified by police as Alexandros Grigoropoulos, and quickly spread to Thessaloniki
and the tourist islands of Crete and Corfu.
Despite appeals for calm from the conservative government, leftist demonstrators and anarchists
held running battles with security forces on Sunday.
Authorities said some 34 people had been injured, including one woman with a serious head
wound. Private TV stations said at least five more people were being treated in private hospitals.
"I've never experienced anything like this," said Hara Christopoulou, 27, resident of the volatile
Exarchia district where the boy was shot. "I tried to leave my house but there's tear gas
everywhere and the roads are full of youths in black."
In recent years, anger among Greek youths has been fanned by the growing gap between rich and
poor. Violence at student rallies and fire bomb attacks by anarchist groups are common.
In Athens, tear gas choked the streets and protesters rained petrol bombs down on rows of riot
police while helicopters hovered overhead. Demonstrators chanted "Killers in Uniform."
Glass, debris and charred cars were strewn across the streets and acrid smoke filled the air after
protesters torched more than 30 shops and a dozen banks in the capital's busiest commercial
districts ahead of the busy Christmas period.
As night fell, more than 1,000 students played a cat and mouse game with police, retreating to
the university campus which security forces are forbidden to enter. At least 13 people have been
detained by police so far, many for looting.
In Thessaloniki, a protest by more than 1,000 people descended into violence when marchers
lobbed firebombs at police, set fire to a bank and smashed several stores.
TWO POLICE ARRESTED
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose government has been rocked by scandal and an
economic slowdown, pledged action in a public apology to the father of the dead boy.
"I know nothing can relieve your pain, but I assure you ... the state will act, as it ought to, so that
yesterday's tragedy won't be repeated," he said.
Two police officers were arrested in connection with the shooting and prosecutors said in a
statement one would be charged with willful killing and the other with abetting him.
A police statement said one officer fired three shots after their car was attacked by a group of 30
youths in Exarchia. A police official said the officer described his fire as warning shots but
witnesses told Greek TV he took aim at the boy.
It was the first time since 1985 that a minor had been killed in clashes with police. The 1985
killing sparked months of almost daily clashes between police and protesters.
Greece, where one in five lives below the poverty line, has seen a rising wave of anti-
government strikes and youth protests in recent months as the global slowdown has started to
bite.
"We must not feel weak and disgraced, but furious with the government's incapacity, apathy and
irresponsibility," said opposition Socialist party leader George Papandreou.
The Socialists have taken the lead in opinion polls amid anger at public scandals and the
government's economic stewardship. Many analysts say Karamanlis could be forced to call an
early election next year.
(Writing by Daniel Flynn; editing by Andrew Roche)