Greek police shooting sparks riot

Greek police shooting sparks riot

news.bbc.co.uk

Riots have broken out in several Greek cities after police shot dead a teenager in the capital Athens.

The unrest began soon after the shooting in the central Exarchia district, a regular scene of clashes between police and leftist groups.

(visit the link for the full news article)





[edit on 7-12-2008 by Unlimitedpossibilities]

After reading two articles, it seems as if the story is inconclusive as to who really started or provoked the initial contention.

Another Article:

news.smh.com.au...

According to witnesses, the shooting of the boy occurred at about 9pm on Saturday when a small group of youths attacked a police patrol car. A police officer fired three shots, hitting the teenager in the chest but witness accounts diverge widely over what happened.

One part of the BBC article really stood out for me and that was:

People were being encouraged to join in the protests via some websites, AP said.

Sounds like some fast communication was going on here. Anyone from Greece see this first hand?



news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)


[edit on 7-12-2008 by Unlimitedpossibilities]

nebuchadnezzarwoollyd.blogspot.com...

Another link to a previous incident indicates this is nothing knew to Greece.

In recent years the march has been organised by anarchist groups and police were ordered to take a tougher line.

Looking up a definition of anarchist....

2. a person who seeks to overturn by violence all constituted forms and institutions of society and government, with no purpose of establishing any other system of order in the place of that destroyed.

dictionary.reference.com...

Does not sound very solution oriented. However, I do not condone conflict without sufficient reason or provocation.

Another case from 2007:

news.bbc.co.uk...


[edit on 7-12-2008 by Unlimitedpossibilities]

reply to post by Unlimitedpossibilities


That description of Anarchist seems somewhat inaccurate and biased. There are many forms of anarchism, most don't advocate a violent overthrow and many do actually have a plan for what society should look like.

Anarchism

On topic, Greece has a long history of having many leftist and anarchic groups, it would seem that the area where the Police shot the teenager is a regular flashpoint where certain groups lure police into ambushes.

This stinks of the same sort of thing as what happened in the French riots a couple of years back where a couple of kids die after being pursued by Police (they were committing an offence at the time), so the immigrants use that as an excuse to riot.

Seems the anarchists/left wingers are using this as an excuse, even though they were probably the ones who ambushed the police.

Police issued a statement after the shooting, saying a patrol car with two officers inside was attacked by about 30 youths throwing stones.

They were attacked again and responded, with one firing a stun grenade and the other shooting and fatally wounding the boy, AP quoted the statement as saying.

[edit on 7/12/08 by stumason]

Perhaps we should ask the Iranians to invade to give them a sense of unity?

Seriously though, why are they so divided? I can't understand why they were firebombing the place...

Anarchist: The term used by the mainstream media to describe a Constitutionalist or otherwise patriotic individual, especially those who are proponents of limited government. Also used to discredit legitimate protest and to excuse police brutality; "These people are anarchists, we had to tazer them, they are anarchists"



[edit on 7-12-2008 by Canadianduder]

My first post after a week more or less of not being around.


Indeed,so far it's not clear how and why this whole thing started.I take nothing as granted till this will get further investigated (rumors say that there might be a videotape from security camera? that might help the investigations.)

Reply toThe Last Man on Earth

I don't get the first part.You meant in a sarcastic AKA: iranians "attacks" so NATO counter attacks way or something?
It seemed pretty random to me,dunno.

Seriously though, why are they so divided? I can't understand why they were firebombing the place...

And who does...? :/ Some of those "anarchists" just don't know what they're doing and supporting,some of them are too wasted and,in general,all of them might be just pawns.
Still though...who knows?

Reply toCanadianduder

So far i haven't met/see/heard any of them being even a lil bit of patriots.Maybe in some other countries "anarchists" are,dunno.

Also used to discredit legitimate protest and to excuse police brutality; "These people are anarchists, we had to tazer them, they are anarchists

This,indeed,happens some times and offcourse i'm 100% against it (if it is a peacefull,civilized protest offcourse).In this speciffic situation though there was no protesting going or anything similar.

STOP PRESS: fresh news of unrest -

Fresh Riots Erupt in Greek Cities

Disconcerting.

This seems like it is developing into something more.

It initially began with the 16-Yo being shot, but now the angry mob has increased in size and is attacking banks and shops.

I know they have a history of rioting in the streets, and I wonder if this is now more of a rising up against the PTB, using the initial shooting as the cause of this one.

I think this is only set to continue. In the last month or so we've seen civil unrest in Iceland, Turkey, Thailand, China, Greece, Italy, Haiti, Colombia, Zimbabwe... Either directly related to the financial problems or movement against the current government.

Could this be the people finally waking up to the fact that almost every government on Earth has been moving progressively toward the dictatorial regimes of the past?
Could it be that people are simply feeling angry towards the few controlling elite and are finding any excuse to fight them?

I am of the opinion that while a lot of this is "mob mentality" and students getting caught up in the drama, a lot also has to do with people feeling under threat from their own government.

But, whatever happens, I hope they limit their protest and violence to the Police and authorities. They are paid to deal with it after all.

My feelings are: Why did it have to come to the point in the "initial encounter", where the police had to kill the teenager? There must have been other methods.

One protester outside the National Museum told the BBC he had been greatly angered by the actions of the police.

"It's not the first time. They always kill people - immigrants, innocent people - and without any excuse," he said. "They murdered him in cold blood."

"I think [the violence] is justified. Peaceful demonstrations cannot get a solution to the problem... They can feel the pressure from the people and not do it again."

news.bbc.co.uk...

The problem I have is that they damaged innocent shop owners' shops. That to me is not JUSTIFIED. Injustice does not make what happened simply 'go away'.

Apparently the teenage that was shot is named Andreas Grigoropoulos.

Earlier, the country's interior minister called for restraint and expressed sadness over Andreas Grigoropoulos's death.

"It is everyone's right to demonstrate and to advocate for their rights," Mr Pavlopoulos said. "But I stress, not by destroying the property of others, not turning against people who are not to blame for anything."

Apparently the minister and I agree.



[edit on 7-12-2008 by Unlimitedpossibilities]

reply to post by detachedindividual


Nah man,i'll explain how things are.
It's not an awakening or anything like that,we're not feeling threatened by our government (allthough many of us are disgusted) and those are not common civilians like you and me.You said it yourself that there's a history of riots.

Everytime those "anarchists" were causing troubles the police never seriously attempted to proceed to massive arrests (which offcourse is a result from higher commands).That's one of the reasons that make me believe that they're pawns.
I'm also thinking of the possibilty that the officer who shot the kid might been told to do something like that.Offcourse i don't know,i'm just assuming and thinking about the possibilities.

Anyway,this is another "game" of politicians to manipulate us.

I hope science will find a cure for stupidity otherwise "sheeple" will keep acting/reacting/thinking the way politicians want them to.

What troubles me the most though is what could be the reason for all this.I still can't think of any possibilities. :/

Students at the city's Aristotle university spent the night holed up on campus stockpiling missiles and petrol bombs before taking to the streets, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens.

yeah this is a friendly protest!

I say somethings a foot.

There seems to be some sort of unwritten rule for rioters that they are safe from getting shot if they "only" throw rocks and molotov cocktails.

Apparently this police officer didn't get the memo.

I have to side with him though, if you are about to throw any kind of explosive device at me, you're going to gain a couple of extra holes.

The Greeks of course have capitulated in true european fashion, and have arrested the officers involved with several ministers also offering to resign so as to placate the gathering mob.

It all sounds painfully familiar.

I haven't read the article (at work), and I haven't seen anything that actually indicates the reason for all this civil unrest.

Why are they doing this?

Long live the anarchist for he shall inherit the earth!!!!!! I am a firm believer of swift justice and social change through great upheavel...... The war for peace must be fought daily and vigilance is key. That is all

reply to post by Retseh


The speciffic kid didn't do anything like that as far as i know.

You're right though that police gets a hard time with criticism.When cops are lifting their nightsticks to beat the troublemakers,instantly everyone cries "police brutallity!!".


We live in a crazy world i tell ya...

Here's some interesting background, just posted:

Rebellion deeply embedded in Greece

Here's the intro:

The BBC's Malcolm Brabant looks at why student anger has erupted across Greece over Saturday's fatal police shooting of a teenage boy.

The riots that have swept Greece for the past two days and look set to continue for the foreseeable future underline why the most important day in the national calendar is "Oxi" or "No" day.

"Oxi" day commemorates 28 October 1940, when Greek leader Ioannis Metaxas used that single word to reply to Mussolini's ultimatum to allow Italy to invade Greece, propelling his nation into World War II.

When Greeks say no, they mean it in spades...

Originally posted by Oceanborn
reply to post by Retseh

 

The speciffic kid didn't do anything like that as far as i know.

You're right though that police gets a hard time with criticism.When cops are lifting their nightsticks to beat the troublemakers,instantly everyone cries "police brutallity!!".


We live in a crazy world i tell ya...

The BIG difference that many seem to be completely ignoring, is that the Police in any democratic country are in place to maintain law and order, not to control the public.

But this is what is happening. And people are fighting back against it.

Even in America, riot Police and SWAT teams are being used to destroy peaceful protest, arrest innocent civilians and intimidate to prevent questions from being asked. The same is happening in Europe.

I understand the ideas suggested in this thread. We had an incident in the UK where Football riots started because a screen broke, and a Police officer was attacked by a mob.
That was clearly and obviously wrong on all levels.

I am not supporting their right to destroy businesses and risk the lives of innocent bystanders, but I am in support of them trying to fight the clear and obvious Police brutality taking place in their country against those who merely question authority.
Especially when they murder a child who probably had no real appreciation of what he was doing.

I don't think that this is the sole motivator, there is a long history of anti-government protest in Greece. And that is what this has become.

A lot of this is all for show anyway. They protest every year as a sort of "dramatization".
It is more violent than usual, and more people are involved and being affected than usual.

Like i always say, the serial killers in society if they are smart join the police, the others join the army.

Sounds like another case of police shooting anyone they want, handy for them.

il just add something to the topic


exarhia is the suburb where this all started,

anarchist are known to hang around ther and police know not to go there.

xepted for 4 cops who thought they were MAD C**TS

so they rioted against them being there.

in greece it is simple.

if people dont agree in it they will fight for wat is right and when thousands riot no police force can fight back.