Riots flare in Greek cities after teenager's shooting
A couple runs to escape a fire from a bus station booth during riots in Athens which were sparked by the shooting of a teenager
Monday December 08 2008
Riots rocked Athens and other university towns across Greece yesterday after a teenager was shot dead in a midnight confrontation with police in an inner-city district frequented by extremist youths.
As news of the shooting spread, hundreds of hooded and helmeted protesters poured into at least three central districts in Athens, hurling petrol bombs and stones at shopfronts, banks, parked cars and squads of police trying to control the mayhem. Officials said 24 policemen were injured.
Patrons in bars in the popular Monastiraki district fled as the youths, chanting "Death to the pigs", torched doorways and gutted at least one office building. Looters emptied shop windows.
Rioters in the heavily policed district of Exarchia, where the shooting occurred, torched bank branches and anything parked outside them. Later, riot police and crowds of extremists faced off in central Athens as a worried centre-right government appealed for calm and avoided justifying the police action. Along Alexandras Avenue, at least three banks, supermarkets and dozens of shops were set on fire.
Rioting also erupted in at least four big university cities around Greece -- Salonika, Patras, Heraklion and Ioannina. Protesters in Salonika attacked city hall, two police stations, shops and a bank.
Witnesses said that the trouble began shortly after midnight on Saturday, when several dozen young people sitting at outdoor cafes hurled insults at a passing patrol car. The car stopped and two policemen got out to confront the youths. After what seems to have been a heated exchange, one of the policemen drew his weapon and fired three times, once towards the ground and twice in the air.
Andreas Grigoropoulos (16) collapsed with a bullet in his chest and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
Probe
Yesterday morning Prokopis Pavlopoulos, the Interior Minister, appeared on national television to pledge a "thorough probe" into the boy's death. The policeman who fired the fatal shot and his colleague in the patrol car were under arrest.
Mr Pavlopoulos went so far as to call any subsequent protests "justified", in an apparent attempt to forestall attacks from the socialist opposition, which has been pulling ahead in opinion polls.
Greek interior minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said: "It is inconceivable for there not to be punishment when a person loses their life, particularly when it is a child,'' Mr Pavlopoulos said. "The taking of life is something that is not excusable in a democracy.''
Police said the riots left 24 policemen injured, with one remaining in hospital yesterday. Rioters damaged or burned 31 stores, nine bank branches and 25 cars, including six police cars. Six people were arrested, five of them for theft from damaged stores and one for carrying a weapon. (© The Times, London)
- John Carr in Athens
