Greek Cops murder 16 year old boy

[Kevo]

From indymedia
Athens, Greece: Cops murder 15 year old boy

A police car patroling in Exarchia, central Athens, passing through Mesologgiou cobbled street (considered an alternative place with music, bars etc and lots of youth in the streets, so we can assume the police car was sent there to provoke and harass the youth), was confronted by a few young people, shouting to the policemen to get lost. There are a few reports that an empty bottle or a brick was thrown to the police car. The cops went out of the car provoking the youth and one of the pigs shot one 15 year old boy, right in the heart, murdering him in cold blood. The name of the boy that stood up to the cops is Alexandros Grigoropoulos. Anarchists and residents gathered, but riot police forces circled the area. There are hundreds of policemen in the streets around central Athens.

Anarchists and Leftists gather in squats, universities, and central squares at Greece's largets cities to protest and fight back the police...

Please, either organisations or individuals, send protest e-mails or letters to the Greek Embassy. Since similar incidents have happened here in the last few months, YOU SHOULD CARE!

AND

In memory of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15 year old who was shot and killed by police in Athens on Saturday night. His death has provoked large scale protests, occupations and strikes all over Greece.

A call has been made for International Solidarity. There have already been Greek Embassy pickets in London and Berlin.

March to Greek Embassy. 9th Dec. 2008
Meet at 5pm, top of Grafton Street.

[Nailer]

My God.

Biased media is an absolutely disgusting thing. Fuck sake.

[Nailer]

From the New York Times:

ATHENS — The violence in Greece by youths angry over the killing of a teenager by the police raged for a third day on Monday as thousands of police officers failed to contain some of the worst rioting in recent years.

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A riot police officer passed a tear gas canister during a student protest in the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki on Monday. More Photos »

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Youth Riots in Greece Enter a Second Day (December 8, 2008) A major street march through the center of downtown Athens quickly turned violent Monday night, as demonstrators threw concrete slabs, rocks and flaming gasoline bombs at police officers. A Christmas tree set up by the government in the center of the city was set on fire.

The rioting also intensified in the country’s second-largest city, Salonika, and for the first time spread to Trikala, a city in the country’s agricultural heartland.

Schools were shut in Athens, the capital, and high school and university students spilled onto the streets, leading to scattered violence throughout the day. But the evening demonstration, which had attracted thousands and was organized by the nation’s Communist Party, was accompanied by some of the worst of the violence of the past several days, and bystanders said they were growing more frustrated with the police’s inability to stop the riots.

The windows of one of Athens’ luxury hotels, the Athens Plaza on Syntagma Square, were smashed, and a hotel guard said guests were evacuated. A small fire burned in the lobby of the Foreign Ministry opposite the Parliament building, The Associated Press reported.

Swift action by the government, which charged a police officer with premeditated manslaughter in the shooting death of the 15-year-old on Saturday night, did not ease the rioting, which began a few hours after the boy’s death.

Senior security officials said they had put the country’s entire 45,000-member police force on alert in one of the biggest security mobilizations since Athens hosted the 2004 Summer Olympics. Britain and Australia issued travel advisories for their citizens visiting Athens.

Panayiotis Stathis, an Athens police spokesman, said security forces were “trying to control the situation,” while using restraint in putting down any protests. “The orders decreed to officers is to be tolerant but responsive to any criminal attack,” Mr. Stathis said.

As night fell on Sunday, rioters were barricaded at two university campuses in the capital. The Greek police and military have not been permitted to enter college campuses since 1973, when tanks quashed a student uprising at Athens Polytechnic, leading to at least 22 civilian deaths.

Panagiotis Sotiris, 38, a spokesman for Uniting Anti-Capitalist Left, a coalition of leftist groups which helped take over the Athens Law School on Monday, said in an interview with Reuters that the violence was not only connected to the killing of the 15-year-old boy, “but is a struggle to overthrow the government’s policy.”

“We are experiencing moments of a great social revolution,” he said.

Young people also continued to clash with the police in other cities. In the northern city of Salonika, 300 students fought pitched battles with the police on Monday, overturning scores of trash cans and setting them ablaze. In Veroia, a town about 40 miles from Salonika, an estimated 400 stone-wielding students clashed with the local police, who retaliated with tear gas. In the small Greek town of Trikala, a student protest march turned violent and one policeman was injured.

In Athens, some 15,000 police officers fanned out across the city’s meandering streets, the authorities said. Rebel youth and self-styled anarchists threw rocks at police officers in riot gear and shouted anti-establishment slogans as police countered with rounds of tear gas.

Workers in the capital’s downtown district had returned to their jobs on Monday but expressed anger as they surveyed the damage done by the rioters. Department stores, banks and scores of cars have been destroyed..

“What happened with the teenager was terrible,” said Marina Christodoulou, a teller at a bank destroyed by rioters. “But watching these rebellious youths tear down the town without an inkling of a response from the police makes the authorities look like cowards.”

The details of the Saturday night confrontation that led to the death of the 15-year-old, whose name has not been officially released by the authorities, remained in dispute. The police said two police officers had been stopped by about 30 aggressive youths in Exarchia, a central Athenian district of bars, restaurants and bookstores that is a gathering place for anarchists.

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Youth Riots in Greece Enter a Second Day (December 8, 2008) The police said one officer, Epaminondas Korkoneas, fired three warning shots, one of which struck and killed the boy. Greek media quoted witnesses who said the officer had aimed at the boy. Mr. Korkoneas has been charged with premeditated manslaughter. The other officer present has been charged as an accomplice.

An autopsy is being carried out on the boy’s body to determine the trajectory of the bullet that killed him.

Clashes between the police and anarchists and other radical youth in Greece are common, but the rioting represented the worst such violence in years. A longstanding, delicate co-existence between the police and groups of far-left youth in parts of the capital had been shattered, political analysts said.

“For decades,” said John Brady Kiesling, a former American diplomat in Athens, “there has been a modus vivendi whereby police tolerate certain crime in Exarchia, and anarchists refrain from waging attacks against them. That live-and-let-live attitude has worked well for both sides. But once there is some type of police action, anarchists retaliate massively and leftist-leaning youth gangs rally to their cause of police resentment.”

The anarchist movement in Greece traces its roots to a military junta that ruled the country from 1967 to 1974. Because of the population’s sensitivity to state violence against civilians, the authorities are hesitant to use overwhelming force against them, even when they become violent.

Mr. Kiesling and other analysts contacted Monday suggested that the authorities were holding out against coordinated security operations until a public outcry empowered the police to take action.

With the conservative government stung by a string of corruption scandals and its popularity plummeting in the face of difficult economic conditions, politicians and security officials were weighing the options of a large-scale police operation to uproot radical elements propelling the protests.

“The timing may not be right for such a move,” said Marianna Giannakou, a former conservative lawmaker. “But Greece must move on and end its tolerance of extremism.”

News agencies reported that at least 35 people had been detained around the country since the riots began Saturday. At least 40 people have been injured.

In a televised address on Monday, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis vowed to punish violent rioters. “All the dangerous and unacceptable events that occurred because of the emotions that followed the tragic incident cannot and will not be tolerated,” he said. The state, he added, “will protect society.”

[Nailer]

You have to love the mentality...

A boy is shot dead, his murderer is convicted and sentenced, so thousands of people take to the streets and start destroying everything...

I wonder how many people actually care that this boy is dead. I wonder how many of those people in greece who are grinding life to a halt actually care, and how many are just happy to have an excuse for social revolution. I bet a lot of people are using a boys death to push their own political ideals.

Where the hell did you get that article Kevin?

I mean, "we can assume the police car was sent there to provoke and harass the youth".
Jesus Christ. Can we assume that the people in the area were threatening to kill the police? No, we bloody well cant. And it works both ways.
That's one of the most biased pieces I've ever seen.

[Kevo]

The article is from indymedia i admit i hastily put it up it was written very fast presumably and is a pretty shit account of what happened but i only found out about this a few minutes before i posted it, greece is an extremely politically active country theres something happening every week im not suprised that when something like this happened it all went pear shaped there i dont agree with all greek anarchist actions, like a few weeks ago greek anarchists attacked the police headquarters in athens with molotovs and sticks in response to the police saying in the media that anarchist groups were involved in organised crime which obviously made them look bad in the media but anarchists will never be viewed positivly in the mainstream media no matter what they do or say and even dont do and say, its a horrible situation and it shouldnt have happened i doubt the kids were doing much standing up to the cops when they had guns pointed at them, and i dont know what kind of warning shots they were if they were fired at someone

[Kevo]

Dec 8, 2008 22:54:33 GMT Nailer said:

You have to love the mentality...

A boy is shot dead, his murderer is convicted and sentenced, so thousands of people take to the streets and start destroying everything...

I wonder how many people actually care that this boy is dead. I wonder how many of those people in greece who are grinding life to a halt actually care, and how many are just happy to have an excuse for social revolution. I bet a lot of people are using a boys death to push their own political ideals.

Where the hell did you get that article Kevin?

I mean, "we can assume the police car was sent there to provoke and harass the youth".
Jesus Christ. Can we assume that the people in the area were threatening to kill the police? No, we bloody well cant. And it works both ways.
That's one of the most biased pieces I've ever seen.

im sure alot of people care about the boys death its horrible, but this happens in greece alot over several different thing and happens on a pretty large scale aswell, there well organised there very well organised, but im also sure your right in saying that some people are using this to push there own political ideals definitly but i find it hard o understand whats going on in greece in general there must be a huge anarchist presence for a reason all the battles with police and military must be for a good reason before and after this incident, but im torn between being angry and sideing with anarchists to calming down and really looking at whats hapened, im having a prolonged knee jerk reaction

[Barry]

Dec 8, 2008 23:31:42 GMT Kevo said:

but i find it hard o understand whats going on in greece in general there must be a huge anarchist presence for a reason all the battles with police

"The anarchist movement in Greece traces its roots to a military junta that ruled the country from 1967 to 1974. Because of the population’s sensitivity to state violence against civilians, the authorities are hesitant to use overwhelming force against them, even when they become violent."

From the NY times article Nailer posted.

[Kevo]

Heres more info from the wsm: ● The incident

On Saturday, 6th of December 2008, two ex-army special forces armed uniform officers (Eidikoi Frouroi/EF) were patrolling in a squat car in Exarchia, central Athens. They got involved in a verbal argument with some young people who were there. They left, and after a few minutes they returned on foot. The verbal argument continued, one of the young people threw a plastic bottle of water to the EF, one of whom pulled his gun and shot him twice directly on the chest.

● General disapproval

This is not a unique and isolated incident. During the last years we have seen a multiplication of marches in Greece, but also a rise of violence from the State. The governments have been incapable of dealing with the bad state of the economy. Foreign investors carry their business in countries with cheaper labour, leading to a high rate of unemployment. The governments chose to increase taxation in small businesses and working people and reduce the already insufficient pensions. Also, a university reform was proposed, which would make them function more like companies rather than academic institutions. Maybe the most important failure of the recent governments, is when they let almost half of the greek forests burn, and tried to eliminate these huge fires with no central planning.

Thus, the people organised huge marches. Pensioners, students, even police unions were confronted with violence; the armed and in full armour riot-police (MAT) are very generous in using tear-gas, smoke grenades and stun grenades. For the last few years the news had headlines like: “Just by chance there were no fatalities”, “Athens resembles a battlefield” etc. During the last month, two refugees were killed by the police while they were waiting in a queue to apply for asylum.

After the Olympics in Athens, the Greek 9/11 in terms of applying “anti-terrorist” measures, the right-wing governments reformed the Special Brands according to the old military fashions, enforced as police fashions in Greece by the 1967-74 military junta, having been initialised by the 1936 fascist government.

● Why the area is important

These bodies (EF and MAT) are extensively active around the Exarchia area. This area is really significant for Athens. Just behind the Polytechnic School, it is an area were many students traditionally used to live and became a center of resistance during the military junta. Many social centers and small shops are found in this area of 90,000 m2 and 22,068 residents. It is the only area which conserves the architectural tradition of the 18th/19th centuries, people live as a community and they are not absorbed by individualism. It is an open space, where people from all over Athens and Greece participate in various events. The area also has a lot of green, mostly on Strefi hill.

The governments though, are quite uncomfortable about that. For years they have been trying to absorb the people into individualism. Their friends, the construction companies, see in the green Strefi hill a piece of land where they would happily build huge commercial centers and blocks of flats.

To achieve all these, EF and MAT patrols have been permanently installed for the last 4 or 5 years. The people, though, organised the Exarchia Residents Committee and managed to stop the re innovation plans. They also organised free exchange markets while in the area free lessons of using computers and of the greek language are delivered to refugees. (photos at:
exarchia.pblogs.gr/2008/12/den-katanalwnw-epanah....html)

● Massive Outrage

That's why the murder of a 16-year-old boy by an EF in Exarchia outraged the people so much. That's why it spread all over Greece. While the mainstream media want to promote a few-anarchists-overreact image, it is far from the truth. Almost all parties of the Left participated in a 10,000 people march organised in less than two hours since the event happened. No riots happened until the MAT appeared and provoked verbally the demonstrators. Then, a massive outrage came to the surface: young people NOT taking part in the march started throwing stones to the MAT, 70-year-old people went out at their balconies and threw flowerpots and ashtrays to the MAT, who answered, as usually, with tear-gas and stun grenades.

Demonstrators who managed to reach and protest at the Special Brands Headquarters in Athens and the police departments in Thessaloniki were, not surprisingly, confronted with tear-gas and stun grenades.

● Further action

Marches were also organised on the 7th and 8th of December. The first by Leftists and Anarchists, the second by the Schools Union. Also, the Provosts of universities in Athens called for a strike. Both marches were confronted with violence by the MAT. They have been throwing tear-gas and stun grenades to the thousands of school students who went to the march. This only enrages the students even more, which has led to all these fires in the center of Athens. All of them are set in Ministry buildings, squat cars and stores of multinational corporations.

Marches in many other -more than 20- cities had the same fate: a peaceful march was provoked by the MAT, the demonstrators were enraged and set fires to governmental buildings. The disapproval against the government has become so massive, that even the mainstream media have started to call for the resignation of the prime minister and conduction of elections. None in the media say that they don't understand the motives of the people.

In many cities around Europe, protests for this situation have been called. Berlin, London, Edinburgh, Paris, Barcelona and cities in Holland, Cyprus, Slovakia and other.

[Kevo]

If I'm getting a better understanding of the situation in Greece which i think i am this murder was just the final spark in a long history of injustice by the Greek state so in a way its becoming more understandable to me that its now been 6 days of actions, protests and occupations all over Greece and a whole other host of actions of solidarity and support from different cities around Europe, one of the most surprising things Ive read is some mainstream media in Greece calling for the resignation of the Greek primeminister. And on the 10th about half of Greece's workforce went on strike, i still have a whole bunch of essays and articles to read about Greek Anarchist roots and struggles its an amazingly interesting history. I got a lot of info about the current situation from another Irish board and from one post in particular I'll post it here soon.
ps come back on nailer!

[Kevo]

Here's the post i mentioned above its from www.eirecore.cjb.net

While anarchism and anarchists are quite a significant political force in Greece and I'd like to think there were up to a hundred thousand anarchists there (from looking at the protests), this is quite clearly not the case.

They have obviously been instigators of sorts, been there from the start and at the forefront but this ignores both the amount of other people, workers and young people involved in this, the context of everything else that's been taking place up to now in terms of struggle as well as the current socio economic climate. There has been nurses strikes, government ministries occupied, universities and secondary schools being occupied, other riots against police brutality (including police attacks on immigrants and textile workers), thousands of prisoners on strike in most prisons looking for reform, a national stoppage in October, two earlier general strikes and there was already a call for a general strike on wednesday (today). And all of this in the further context of an economic crisis.

The point is, as horrible as the cold blooded murder of Alexandros was, it was merely the spark to the powder keg of an underlying social unrest. Even mainstream media is pointing out all this. There is currently occupations taking place of thousands of secondary schools and of a majority of universities, demos and assemblies taking place and now 2.5 million workers in the GSEE and ADEDY general unions, comprising around half of Greece's total workforce are to strike today. With most likely tens of thousands taking part in demos.

It is the people themselves in Greece taking part in social struggle, the assemblies, etc. calling for international solidarity in the form of protests, demos, occupations, actions, and so on. These have taken place so far in Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden Frankfurt, Bremen, Cologne, Den Haag, Nilmegen, Turin, Bologna, Warsaw, Wroclaw, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Vienna (that's to the best of my knowledge) with more to take place today, even as far away as New Zealand. All of these have been in solidarity not just with Alexandros but also with the current social struggle taking place in Greece and in support of the general strike today.

And while the idea behind solidarity is "An injury to one is an injury to all", anarchism and the concept of solidarity isn't an identity or a little club were you go out and support only those who also fulfill this (non existent) identity, but about internationalism and support for other peoples struggles and efforts and particularly those that exhibit those tendencies of self organisation and self activity that are what defines anarchism as a tradition and not a sect.

So comments about anarchists "claiming" people or partaking in "opportunistic political demos" are either unaware of some of what's just been mentioned (which is understandable in terms of political ideas, demos taking place, etc. and perhaps in terms of context in Greece (still difficult considering current media coverage)) or being purposely cynical and snide.

[Nailer]

Finishing exams, ill be on at the weekend Kevo!

[Nailer]

Why am I doing this on christmas day...

Have to say Kevo, I understand the situation far better having read up on it. Understanding it doesnt mean that I automatically support it, but at least the context of a history of social unrest gives the riots some sort of validity, at least in my eyes.

I dunno, to be honest I dont really agree with burning down government buildings, but having said that, I grew up in a democracy where freedom of speech has been afforded to me since I was young (at least I think it has, I reckon irish society is very liberal, maybe you dont) so I guess my concept of this kind of action is relatively tainted in that I've never really been exposed to those sort of situations.

I still reckon that there's a large section of this I'd personally disagree with... much of it is underlying tension, but I'd be willing to bet that a large section of this protest was driven by a few people who saw a knee jerk opportunity to push riots.. I'm sure the widespread bad will and unrest was a product of socio-economic conditions, and probably a good bit of the rioting, but in situations like this it always seems to me that there's usually a few who like to take it a step further, probably further than where I'd draw the line as to what kind of action I could sympathize with.

Those articles are so definitely biased though! I dont in anyway like to be a lapdog of The Irish Times or any other broadsheet, as sometimes their cynicism and audience is clear. But equally you cant take something from wsm or anywhere at complete face value either..

"These bodies (EF and MAT) are extensively active around the Exarchia area. This area is really significant for Athens. Just behind the Polytechnic School, it is an area were many students traditionally used to live and became a center of resistance during the military junta. Many social centers and small shops are found in this area of 90,000 m2 and 22,068 residents. It is the only area which conserves the architectural tradition of the 18th/19th centuries, people live as a community and they are not absorbed by individualism. It is an open space, where people from all over Athens and Greece participate in various events. The area also has a lot of green, mostly on Strefi hill.

The governments though, are quite uncomfortable about that. For years they have been trying to absorb the people into individualism. Their friends, the construction companies, see in the green Strefi hill a piece of land where they would happily build huge commercial centers and blocks of flats."

Like, I'd REALLY take that with a pinch of salt. I dont buy too much into that train of thought and I'd question the logic of statements like that..

I dunno, I guess I can definitely understand the unrest behind these strikes, but it would question the extent to which the strikes are going, and I'd defintely question the sources of this info, every journalist seems to be slinging some kind of fucking angle.

Anyway, yeah, that's my two cents Kevo, since you asked! Sorry it took forever, apathy is a terrible thing.

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