Shame! This is what we felt all passers-by who witnessed yesterdays battle scene at the centre of Athens. Riots that have broken out after police shot dead a 15-year-old boy who tried to throw a firebomb (!) at a patrol car in Exarchia district. At least that seemed to be the motive-reason which I doubt facing myself the extent of the damages, the fires and the vandalism at the central streets, shops, banks and about 20 cars. Police responded by firing tear gas, evacuating some restaurants in the area, and closing several streets to all traffic. But what I don’t understand is the Government apology. Several hours after the incident, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, the interior minister, apologized for the incident and expressed his sorrow for the death of the young boy. "There will be an exemplary punishment and measures will be taken so that such a thing will not be repeated", he said! But why there were no arrests? Why they leave those people hurling Molotov cocktails and vandalizing undisturbed businesses in central Athens? Who controls and organize those rioters? These are the concerns of the simple citizens like me, like the cab driver who took me home last night, of the terrified passers-by, forced to find their way out of the centre whispering “ok! Once again we are going to pay for all that” or the small business owners of the destroyed and burned shops and cars. Shame to the "professional" rioters, they loose the right –if they have any- over the public opinion who witnessed speechless such damages, such chaos and proving for once again how easy is to destroy than create and contribute to the society

on 07-12-2008 By Elina - Special : Athens on fire - Permalink - Share

Comments

Adriano | 1. Sunday, December 7 2008, 22:54

Many thanks for this post. I immediately connect to Freappe Babel when I heard about the murder. I don't have enough elements in order to take a position in this story. What I can say is that the image European media are giving of this story is very partial and lacking of context on what the protesters have been making before the murder all around the city... I also believe demcoratic debate is not made of violence and that open society must be intolerant with intolerants paraphrasing Popper...

Guitai | 2. Monday, December 8 2008, 00:51

Karamanlis will not succed with neoliberal university reform. And to answer to Elina: nobody controls the rioters. And this is good. It is not important where Andreas Grigoropoulos came from. The fact is that he is dead. Shoot in the chest by policemen. That is bloody manslaughter and it is not the first that the police do. Never there was a inquisition, always the police got away. Not this time. If you want to inform yourself, read some independent news: http://athens.indymedia.org/feature...

Amarendra | 3. Monday, December 8 2008, 01:36

I think Karamanlis didn’t want arrests because he’s already very unpopular amongst students for university reforms. He tried to go the soft way but didn’t count with elite police corps killing Andreas Grigoropoulos. Now there’s the mess and I don’t see that our PM has the guts to get out of it quickly.

federico sanchez | 4. Monday, December 8 2008, 03:58

Dear babelians, what suggest you is to connect those episodes in Greece with the students silent rebellion happening also in Spanish Universities. Now, the Spanish governement is thinking about to make an information plan like the one done 6 years before with the implementation of the Euro, cause nobody trusts in the Bologna Process amongst the students. This a real uropean movement!

elina | 5. Monday, December 8 2008, 11:03

dear friends,

Of course it is not a coincidence what happened in Greece this weekend..it has to do partly with the educational reform and I say partly because I can not imagine solving problems of education by destroying. But since we are in a european platform (cafebabel) can you explain me why you are firmly against the recognition of professional rights of graduates of annexes of european universities in Greece. What is so bad about that? Federico this is the case in Greece..is it something llike that in Spain?

agelina | 6. Monday, December 8 2008, 15:12

Dear Babelians,
I really cannot understand how you connect the murder of a child with the educational reform...What is the connection between the thousands of children and adults citizens demostrating right now in Athens and the Bologna Process?It is true, as Elina said, that unexpected riots demolished the safe and democratic daily life in Athens...but even if these riots were caused by anarchists, right now all the Greeks feel angry with the murder of the innocent child. As you all know, Greeks are very proud of their country as it is the birthplace of democracy..and they do not allow to anybody to demolish the rule of law. Every government must, first and above all, guarantee the protection of every citizen's life. It is that simple!

del | 7. Tuesday, December 9 2008, 01:26

What do you mean, "innocent child"? He was throwing a molotov cocktail at police--that's not innocent, that's rebellion. Pour la canaille, faut la mitraille, as the Duke Wellington would have said.

agelina | 8. Tuesday, December 9 2008, 13:59

Dear Babelian,
Nobody threw a molotov coctail and nobody ever said that (including the government, the political parties, the greek and foreign media)! As a matter of fact, I post an extract from the newspaper "Kathimerini" that makes clear what we all know for the incident: "The police officers are advised that they should only use their revolvers if human life is in danger. However, footage of Saturday’s shooting, captured by a witness on her mobile phone does not appear to show the special guard and his colleague coming under any kind of threat.The images appear to show the police officer standing at some distance from the 15-year-old and other youths.There appear to be no signs of the police officers coming under any kind of attack.The special guard has been charged with murder and illegal use of a weapon while his colleague has been charged as an accomplice. Their next appearance in court is in some doubt as the lawyers assigned to defend them have refused to accept their case. This has been interpreted as an indication that the officers’ argument that they were acting in self-defense was not convincing." You still think that the child was not innocent?

elina | 9. Wednesday, December 10 2008, 10:34

Until now, nobody knows what happened exactly. Unfortunately, the circumstances surrounding the death of the young boy are still unclear..no matter what, in my opinion: BULLETS CAN NOT BE THE ANSWER TO WORDS!
Over the real debate and the real problems in Greece right now I suggest to see the comments in Laure's blog

bloghttp://pressealagrecque.cafebabel.c...

Mick | 10. Thursday, December 11 2008, 20:44

Shame indeed. The initial post started by Elina just goes to show how far a discussion can be mislead by false information. Six days have now passed since the day 15year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos (yes he had a name) was shot and noone -police, eyewitnesses, defence- claims anymore that he threw a molotof coctail at the policeman. The shame is all on you Elina.

Elina | 11. Monday, December 22 2008, 15:24

Mick,

Firstly, the initial post was an immediate response to my presence to the events. As you probably know since you are a greek citizen the name of the boy was given to publicity 2 days after the incident..why we do not know. I still claim that circumstances surrounding the death of the young boy are still unclear for many..
Secondly, I am deeply shocked by the death as you are. But vandalism and violence is a whole another story and it has nothing to do with the death. I hope you understand

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