Bob
12-10-2008, 05:39 PM
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/07/europe/greece.php
ATHENS: Youth angry over the killing of a teenager by police rioted in Athens and other Greek cities for a second day on Sunday, while the police announced that two officers had been arrested for their roles in boy's death.
The country's worst riots in recent years began hours after a 15-year-old boy was shot Saturday night during a confrontation between police and youth in the Exarchia neighborhood of central Athens, a district of bars, bookshops and restaurants where clashes between far-left youth and the police have previously occurred.
As news of the death spread, hundreds of youth took to the streets, burning scores of shops, cars and businesses while throwing fire bombs and stones at riot police, who countered with tear gas. At least six people were arrested in Athens for looting goods from the debris of destroyed department stores and boutiques.
The violence spread to other cities on Sunday, including Greece's second-largest city, Thessaloniki, as well as Chania on the island of Crete.
Stylianos Volirakos, an Athens police spokesman, said "dozens" of officers had been injured in their bid to seal off streets around Athens Polytechnic University, where rioters, hiding behind blazing trash bins and the university's soaring gates, threw stones and fire bombs at security forces. It remained unclear Sunday night whether authorities would move to storm the state university, a move forbidden by Greek law after military tanks in 1973 rammed the gates of the school to quash a student uprising against the then-ruling military junta. At least 22 civilians died in that attack, which is marked every year by youth-led marches that occasionally turn violent.
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Authorities fired several rounds of tear gas, which cloaked parts of Athens with plumes of acrid grey smoke. At least one apartment block was evacuated after masked youth torched a French car dealership and ensuing flames reached the balconies of residents, the private television station Alpha reported.
An Athens prosecutor charged two officers from an elite police corps with the shooting death of the 15-year-old, Andreas Grigoropoulos.
A 37-year-old officer who allegedly fired the shots was charged with manslaughter, while the other officer in the car was charged with abetting him, a statement from the prosecutor's office said. Agence France-Presse identified Epaminondas Korkoneas as the older officer and Vassilis Saraliotis as his partner.
According to the police, the two police officers had been patrolling Exarchia when their car was stopped by some 30 youths, many of them hurling stones, at about 9 p.m. Both officers left their car to confront the mob, "firing three shots that resulted in the death of the minor," according to the statement, even though witness accounts differ.
Private Greek media and a website popular among leftist youths, www.indymedia.org, said the teenager had been shot in the chest and died while being transferred to a local hospital.
Both officers were being detained at the nation's police headquarters in Athens, the police said.
Greece's prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, wrote a letter to the boy's parents expressing his sorrow. "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 wrote.
"It is inconceivable for there not to be punishment when a person, let alone a minor, loses their life," Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said at a Saturday news conference. "The loss of life is something that is inconceivable in a democracy."
As government officials quickly moved to condemn the shooting, thousands took the streets oin protest. A march on Sunday in central Athens with some 3,000 demonstrators was peaceful until it was interrupted by youths throwing more rocks and handmade bombs, and police shot tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd. Private television networks broke into scheduled programming to broadcast the street fighting. Young men were seen smashing storefronts, targeting banks and burning dozens of refuse containers and cars along the meandering streets of Athens' high-end commercial district.
Pavlopoulos, who offered to resign early Sunday, called for restraint. His resignation was not accepted by the prime minister.
"People have the right to protest and will do so, but while the pain and grief caused by the minor's death is understandable, no outrage," he said, "can lead to the violence and destruction of private property that was witnessed."
i just can't help but think about the cultural differences here. if the shooting that sparked this had happened in america, it would be at best a front page story for a while, and then people would forget about it. 30 stone-throwing youths halt a police car, the two cops get out and fire three shots, killing a 15 year old boy (and according to some accounts, the kid was about to throw a molotov). the authorities profusely apologize for the incident and promise to crucify the cops involved, in a vain attempt to put a halt to the full-scale riot that erupted in response.
i just can't help but think that the response would be different in america, where the police can do a surprise drug raid a person's home, fire blindly into a bedroom, killing a woman, and wounding the baby that she was holding in her arms and get acquitted, because he mistakenly thought that the gunshots he heard were aimed at him (it turned out to be the sound of the police killing the dogs on a different floor). (http://abcnews.go.com/US/WireStory?id=5513699&page=1). i guess europe just has a different attitude towards law enforcement
ATHENS: Youth angry over the killing of a teenager by police rioted in Athens and other Greek cities for a second day on Sunday, while the police announced that two officers had been arrested for their roles in boy's death.
The country's worst riots in recent years began hours after a 15-year-old boy was shot Saturday night during a confrontation between police and youth in the Exarchia neighborhood of central Athens, a district of bars, bookshops and restaurants where clashes between far-left youth and the police have previously occurred.
As news of the death spread, hundreds of youth took to the streets, burning scores of shops, cars and businesses while throwing fire bombs and stones at riot police, who countered with tear gas. At least six people were arrested in Athens for looting goods from the debris of destroyed department stores and boutiques.
The violence spread to other cities on Sunday, including Greece's second-largest city, Thessaloniki, as well as Chania on the island of Crete.
Stylianos Volirakos, an Athens police spokesman, said "dozens" of officers had been injured in their bid to seal off streets around Athens Polytechnic University, where rioters, hiding behind blazing trash bins and the university's soaring gates, threw stones and fire bombs at security forces. It remained unclear Sunday night whether authorities would move to storm the state university, a move forbidden by Greek law after military tanks in 1973 rammed the gates of the school to quash a student uprising against the then-ruling military junta. At least 22 civilians died in that attack, which is marked every year by youth-led marches that occasionally turn violent.
Multimedia
Photos: Riots in Greece
» View
Video: Riots spread in Greece after boy's death
» View
Today in Europe
Greek government defends its stance as clashes resume
Britain said to plan final Iraqi troop withdrawal for March
Kouchner admits to clash between rights and policy
Authorities fired several rounds of tear gas, which cloaked parts of Athens with plumes of acrid grey smoke. At least one apartment block was evacuated after masked youth torched a French car dealership and ensuing flames reached the balconies of residents, the private television station Alpha reported.
An Athens prosecutor charged two officers from an elite police corps with the shooting death of the 15-year-old, Andreas Grigoropoulos.
A 37-year-old officer who allegedly fired the shots was charged with manslaughter, while the other officer in the car was charged with abetting him, a statement from the prosecutor's office said. Agence France-Presse identified Epaminondas Korkoneas as the older officer and Vassilis Saraliotis as his partner.
According to the police, the two police officers had been patrolling Exarchia when their car was stopped by some 30 youths, many of them hurling stones, at about 9 p.m. Both officers left their car to confront the mob, "firing three shots that resulted in the death of the minor," according to the statement, even though witness accounts differ.
Private Greek media and a website popular among leftist youths, www.indymedia.org, said the teenager had been shot in the chest and died while being transferred to a local hospital.
Both officers were being detained at the nation's police headquarters in Athens, the police said.
Greece's prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, wrote a letter to the boy's parents expressing his sorrow. "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 wrote.
"It is inconceivable for there not to be punishment when a person, let alone a minor, loses their life," Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said at a Saturday news conference. "The loss of life is something that is inconceivable in a democracy."
As government officials quickly moved to condemn the shooting, thousands took the streets oin protest. A march on Sunday in central Athens with some 3,000 demonstrators was peaceful until it was interrupted by youths throwing more rocks and handmade bombs, and police shot tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd. Private television networks broke into scheduled programming to broadcast the street fighting. Young men were seen smashing storefronts, targeting banks and burning dozens of refuse containers and cars along the meandering streets of Athens' high-end commercial district.
Pavlopoulos, who offered to resign early Sunday, called for restraint. His resignation was not accepted by the prime minister.
"People have the right to protest and will do so, but while the pain and grief caused by the minor's death is understandable, no outrage," he said, "can lead to the violence and destruction of private property that was witnessed."
i just can't help but think about the cultural differences here. if the shooting that sparked this had happened in america, it would be at best a front page story for a while, and then people would forget about it. 30 stone-throwing youths halt a police car, the two cops get out and fire three shots, killing a 15 year old boy (and according to some accounts, the kid was about to throw a molotov). the authorities profusely apologize for the incident and promise to crucify the cops involved, in a vain attempt to put a halt to the full-scale riot that erupted in response.
i just can't help but think that the response would be different in america, where the police can do a surprise drug raid a person's home, fire blindly into a bedroom, killing a woman, and wounding the baby that she was holding in her arms and get acquitted, because he mistakenly thought that the gunshots he heard were aimed at him (it turned out to be the sound of the police killing the dogs on a different floor). (http://abcnews.go.com/US/WireStory?id=5513699&page=1). i guess europe just has a different attitude towards law enforcement