2008 civil unrest in Greece
Encyclopedia
The 2008 Greek riots started on 6 December 2008, when Alexandros Grigoropoulos , a 15-year-old student, was killed by two policemen in Exarcheia
district of central Athens
. The murder of a young student by police resulted in large protests and demonstrations
, which escalated to widespread riot
ing, with hundreds of rioters damaging property and engaging riot police
with Molotov cocktails, stones and other objects. Demonstrations and rioting soon spread to several other cities, including Thessaloniki
, the country's second-largest city.
Outside Greece, solidarity demonstrations, riots and, in some cases, clashes with local police also took place in more than 70 cities around the world, including London
, Paris
, Brussels
, Rome
, Dublin, Berlin
, Frankfurt
, Madrid
, Barcelona
, Amsterdam
, The Hague
, Copenhagen
, Bordeaux
, Cologne
, Seville
as well as Nicosia
, the capital of Cyprus
, and the western Cypriot city of Paphos
. In cities far away from Athens, solidarity often was expressed as a peaceful informational protest, for example Sao Paulo
, it proved that people could spread the news around the globe, from San Francisco to Wellington
and Buenos Aires
to Siberia
. Newspaper Kathimerini
called the rioting "the worst Greece has seen since the restoration of democracy
in 1974".
While the unrest was triggered by the shooting incident, commentators described the reactions as expressing deeper causes as well, especially a widespread feeling of frustration in the younger generation about specific economic problems of the country (partly as a result of the global economic crisis), a rising unemployment rate among the young generation and a perception of general inefficiency and corruption in Greek state institutions.
The fatal shooting that triggered the riots and protests took place in the evening of 6 December 2008, shortly after 9 pm in the Exarcheia
district of central Athens.
According to press reports, two Special Guards (a special category of the Greek police
personnel, originally meant for guard duties on public property) had been engaged in a minor verbal clash with a small group of teenagers in a main street of Exarcheia
, outside a shop. On driving away in their police car, they were then confronted by another small group at a nearby street crossing. The two guards were ordered by the Greek police
center of operations to disengage immediately and withdraw from the confrontation site. However, the two guards did not comply and are therefore accused of insubordination. Instead, the two special guards chose to station the police vehicle outside the PASOK
headquarters, left their car and went to Tzavella Street on foot in order to confront the youngsters.
Although the incident remains shrouded in mystery and conflicting reports, the following is an attempt to piece together the saga. Following some exchange of verbal abuse that, according to several witnesses, was initiated by the guards, one of them, Epaminondas Korkoneas, fired his gun. The initial police's report on the incident claims that the special guard shot in response to a renewed attack by the youths that involved throwing stones and bottles. Eyewitnesses speaking to the Greek mass media, however, reported that the special guards were not attacked by the youths nor was their physical safety put in danger at any time. Instead, the special guards approached the group and verbally assaulted them in order to provoke them. The special guard said he fired three rounds, two warning shots in the air and a third aimed on the ground. Several eyewitnesses said they believed the policeman had targeted the youngsters directly.
The victim, Alexandros – Andreas Grigoropoulos was a 15-year-old student, who lived in the affluent northern Athens suburb of Palaio Psychiko
and attended a private school (the Moraitis School
). Immediately following the shooting, he was transported to the nearby Evangelismos Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
On 10 December, Alexis Kougias, counsel for the defendants, said that preliminary results of the ballistic tests apparently show that it was indeed a ricochet
and that the two policemen will only appear before the Public Prosecutor after the forensic, toxicological, and ballistic examinations have been completed. However, the results of forensic tests indicate that the bullet that killed Grigoropoulos had entered the youth’s body directly. This casts doubt on claims by the 37-year-old policeman charged with the boy’s murder that the bullet had been fired as a warning and ricocheted. On the morning of 11 December, Dimitris Tsovolas
, former MP and Economic Minister under the previous government formed by PASOK
agreed to serve as the counsel for Grigoropoulos' family.
On the same day, counsel for the two policemen involved in the shooting released an explanatory statement that described the deceased as demonstrating "deviant behaviour". According to the memorandum, Grigoropoulos was a teenager from a wealthy family, he frequented the Exarcheia district, and he had allegedly taken part in riotous activities that took place following the end of a basketball game two hours before he was shot, and that, in general "the victim did not show the expected behaviour and personality of a 15-year old adolescent". Grigoropoulos' family, friends, schoolmates and high school teachers immediately condemned those statements and declared in public that the allegations in the defendants' memorandum are "completely inaccurate" and "insulting"; the private school Grigoropoulos attended also issued a public statement that denies all the allegations. Alexis' stance, as well as his comments in the explanatory memorandum forced the Athens
bar association
to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him.
On 15 December, Alexis appealed that the two defendants be released from custody, on the grounds that neither of them ever had any previous criminal convictions, that their names and addresses were known, that they had considerable ties with their community, and that the charges were based on the testimony of witnesses that the defendants objected to. Specifically, the defendants' counsel took issue with the testimony of four eyewitnesses who had testified for the Public Prosecutor, and appeared to refute almost all the claims made by the defendants and their counsel.
On 17 December, Dimitris Tsovolas
, counsel for Grigoropoulos' family, publicly requested that the defendants and defendants' counsel stop provoking the Greek people and the victim's family by making degrading comments, unsubstantiated accusations, and smearing the memory of Alexandros. The ballistics report was also released on 17 December and stated that the bullet that killed Grigoropoulos had in fact ricochet
ed. However, forensic reports conducted on 21 December concluded that the bullet was not fired in the air, but rather towards the group of teenagers, though there may have been no intention to kill the boy.
(consisting of 3 judges and 4 jurors) found the two special guards guilty. Korkoneas was found guilty of "homicide with direct intention to cause harm" and Vasilis Saraliotis was found guilty as an accomplice. Korkoneas was sentenced to lifetime and an additional 15 months of imprisonment (votes 4–3) while Saraliotis was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment (votes 6–1).
, Ioannina
, Komotini
, Kastoria
, Patras
, Tripoli
, Volos
, Trikala
, Mytilene
, Agrinio
, Kavala
, Corfu
, Piraeus
, Chania
, Heraklion
, Rhodes, Karditsa
, Lamia
, Stylida
, Drama
, Xanthi
, Lagkadas
, Kozani
, Alexandroupoli
, Larisa and Corinth
. After midnight, the demonstrations in Athens turned into violent rioting in some central streets of the city. By dawn on Sunday, 24 police officers had been injured, one seriously (with facial burns and his little finger mutilated) and 31 shops (particularly across Ermou Street), 9 banks, and 25 cars had been either seriously damaged, burned, or destroyed within the downtown area.
Monday 8 December 2008 saw police assess damage as daily schedules resumed and rioting subsided. However, all was not quiet, as all over Greece, several thousands of high school students walked out
of their schools and marched on local police stations, throwing eggs, paint bombs, and water bottles. Protesters continued to occupy university campuses around the nation, while organizations such as the Communist Party of Greece
announced plans for protests later that day. The massive demonstrations of that evening were confronted by police using tear gas; during the demonstrations, some 11 public buildings around the central plaza of Athens, Syntagma Square
, were set on fire.
Students around Greece proceeded to occupy their school buildings, in protest, including in Serres
, Imathia, Chalkidiki, Pieria, and Thessaloniki
. The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
, the National Technical University of Athens
, as well as the Athens University of Economics and Business remained under student occupation. Rioters also set fire to the Kostis Palamas building that led to the total destruction of the European Law Library situated at the corner of Akadimias
and Sina street. After the fire, the rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
, Christos Kittas, resigned, but some days later withdrew his resignation.
A police report released Tuesday, 9 December 2008 in the morning put the numbers of injured police officers at 12, arrested rioters at 87, and persons who had been brought before a public prosecutor at 176. In Thessaloniki, 16 rioters were arrested for theft, 3 of whom were under 18 years old. After four days of rioting, some citizens began to act against the rioters, and some rioters fired on police officers. Citizens attacked people that were found looting and were seen throwing stones to protect their belongings. In the city of Patras, according to the city's mayor, members of far-right organisations took part in the violence. In Athens, seven police officers were injured, four rioters were arrested for violence against the police, 12 were arrested for theft and 55 were arrested for rioting with another 25 people of non-Greek nationality arrested for the same reason.
In a report on Tuesday, Amnesty International
accused the Greek Police of brutality in handling the riots. The Greek department of Amnesty International canceled the scheduled celebrations on 10 December for the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
in response to the police violence in Greece.
The crisis deepened on Wednesday 10 December 2008 when the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) and the Civil Servants' Confederation (ADEDY), representing 2.5 million workers or roughly half of the total Greek workforce, called a one-day general strike
in protest against the government's economic policies. Rioting continued in Athens as thousands of workers gathered for anti-government protests at Syntagma Square
.
On Thursday, 11 December 2008 4,000 students marched against the police throwing firebombs.
On Friday, 12 December 2008 students attacked police outside the parliament building. Riot police fired tear gas in response. Heavy rain helped curtail demonstrations compared to previous days. The protests inspired small protests in some European cities, sowing fears of copycat riots elsewhere. On the same day, Greek police issued an appeal for more tear gas after supplies ran low, since more than 4,600 capsules of it were released against the protestors by that time.
On Saturday, 13 December 2008 large groups of demonstrators gathered in front of the Greek Parliament in central Athens. Despite the fact that the protest in front of the Greek parliament was relatively peaceful, the riot police attempted to dissolve it at 1:30 (local time) by using tear gas and violence. On the same day, about 100 protesters firebombed a police station near the Exarcheia district where Alexandros Grigoropoulos was killed.
On Sunday, 14 December 2008 students joined residents of the Exarcheia
district to demand the renaming of that street in honour of the dead teenager. Also, at least four radio stations based in Athens
were occupied by protesters. In Thessaloniki, students demonstrated in solidarity with all the people who were arrested as a result of rioting over the past week.
. The riot police chose to dissolve the protest through violence after some of the demonstrators threw eggs against one riot police squad. Many of the demonstrators were of school-age. Several newspapers report that the protesters were provoked by policemen. In Piraeus
, approximately 300 students rallied outside the local Korydallos Prison
and taunted the police who fired tear gas to disperse them. According to teachers' unions, some 600 schools were under occupation, while 150 university facilities across the country had been taken over according to the Greek Ministry of Education. In Ioannina
, the local public radio station was occupied by students and far-leftist groups. Rallies and demonstrations have also taken place in Chania
, Heraklion
, Larissa
and Thessaloniki
.
On Tuesday, 16 December 2008 rallies and protests took place outside many police station
s in Athens
and Piraeus
. Early in the afternoon, masked youths emerged from the university complex in Zografou
and firebomb
ed nearby Athens
' riot police headquarters. Six police officers were injured and ten vehicles were burnt. Meanwhile a group of around 30 protesters infiltrated the studios of public broadcaster ERT
and interrupted a news broadcast featuring Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis. For about a minute, the protesters stood in front of the camera holding banners reading “Stop watching, get out into the streets.” ERT Chairman Christos Panagopoulos tendered his resignation over the incident but it was rejected by the government. “It is unacceptable for unidentified individuals to deprive others of their right to information,” he said.
On Wednesday, 17 December 2008 a rally was held outside the capital's main courthouses, where youths threw eggs and fruit at the police. There was also one demonstration organised by the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) in central Athens
from Omonoia Square
to the Greek Parliament, drawing around 5000 people. Student protesters evaded security guards at the Acropolis of Athens
and unfurled two giant pink banners over a wall near the Parthenon to rally support for continued demonstrations. "Thursday 18/12 demonstrations in all Europe," one banner read, while the other simply bore the message, "Resistance," in Greek, English, Spanish and German. "We chose this monument to democracy, this global monument, to proclaim our resistance to state violence and demand rights in education and work," "(We did it) to send a message globally and to all Europe." said the protestors. Government spokesman, Evangelos Antonaros, said this protest was "inexcusable" and accused the protesters of tarnishing Greece's image abroad. In Kaisariani
, near the riot police headquarters that were targeted by youths on Tuesday, a group of anarchists
torched a police bus. The only person in the bus, the driver, managed to escape unhurt. In another protest, about 40 people – including workers, immigrants and unemployed citizens – occupied the offices of the country's main labor union, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE). The union's president, Giannis Panagopoulos, said the protest was mistargeted: “The GSEE does not govern this country”. A protest was also held outside the Prefecture of Thessaloniki offices and the Ministry for Macedonia–Thrace
which is also based in Thessaloniki
. Late that night, a homemade explosive device planted outside a branch of Eurobank in the Thessaloniki
district of Kalamaria
damaged the building’s facade when it detonated. A similar device smashed the windows of a local Citizens’ Information and Service Center (KEP). In Ioannina
, the town hall was occupied, while in Chania
, a local television station remained under occupation by protesters for about 1 hour.
On Thursday, 18 December 2008 demonstrations took place in central Athens, more than 12,000 protesters crowded the streets near the Greek parliament in a peaceful demonstration in central Athens which turned violent when a group of protesters broke away from the rally and threw rocks and firebombs at police and buildings near Parliament, overturned a car and set fire to trash cans, splashed the police with red paint and tried to burn down the city’s main Christmas tree which had just been replaced after being torched during last weeks riots. The police responded with tear gas and flash grenades, and drove the rioters back toward the administrative headquarters of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the university’s School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences. After another round of pitched battles between masked rioters and the police, several hundred protesters entered the School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences. Christmas shoppers fled the streets and retailers rolled down their shutters as protesters smashed store fronts and burned at least four cars. Demonstrations also took place in Thessaloniki
where protesters gathered outside the Ministry for Macedonia–Thrace
. Rallies and protests also took place in Patras
, Tripoli
, Chania
and Trikala
. Some labour unions stopped work in solidarity with the demonstrators. The work stoppage by the air traffic controllers forced Olympic Airlines
to cancel 28 flights and postpone 14. Hospitals were also operating with very limited staff.
On Friday, 19 December 2008 a protest took place outside the Greek parliament, and a solidarity concert outside the administrative building of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. More than 1500 people demonstrated peacefully in the western suburb of Athens
, Peristeri
following another shooting of a 16-year-old on Wednesday, 17 December, night. The teenager was struck in the hand by a bullet fired by an unidentified assailant while sitting in a park, outside a local high school with friends. The police admitted that they had made a mistake in their initial statement that the boy was hit by an air-gun pellet. Tests revealed it was either a .38 Special
or .357 Magnum
bullet. Officers are investigating the incident, anxious to disprove rumors that an off-duty or undercover policeman fired the shot. A police spokesman said that no officers were in the area at the time of the shooting and an investigation was under way. Masked youths attacked the French Institute in Athens with firebombs, "Spark in Athens. Fire in Paris. Insurrection is coming," read one graffiti spray-painted onto the building's walls in French. Another, written in Greek, read "France, Greece, uprising everywhere". Later on Friday, about 50 protesters interrupted the official premiere of the Greek National Theater, holding up banners urging people to join the demonstrations.
On Saturday, 20 December 2008 about 150 youth attacked the Christmas tree at Syntagma Square in central Athens, at around 16.00, hanging trash bags from its branches before clashing with riot police. The square was cleared within two hours. At least three news photographers were injured by police batons. The Christmas tree protest had been advertised as part of a day of events in Greece and around the world to commemorate Grigoropoulos' shooting. On Saturday evening, masked men broke into the building housing the offices of Tiresias SA, a company that keeps records of delinquent debtors and cardholders, and firebombed the company's offices. The fire was extinguished but the company's offices were destroyed. Rioters, using the National Technical University of Athens
as a base, launched attacks against police, throwing rocks and petrol bombs and erecting roadblocks. In Thessaloniki a group of anarchists
briefly occupied a radio station and a theater before disrupting and threw cakes and candy at Mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos and one of his deputies during an open-air charity event near the theater. Later, a group emerged from the same theater and attacked a Nativity scene, throwing away Christ's figure.
On Sunday, 21 December 2008 In the early hours of the morning unidentified hood-wearing assailants threw petrol bombs at the police academy in the west Athens
district of Nea Philadelphia six police vehicles were torched, without causing any casualties. The vehicles that were parked outside the building of the police accounting department at Patriarchou Constantinou street, also suffered damage in the attack. At around the same time, rioting and clashes with riot police continued in the area around the National Technical University of Athens and the University of Thessaloniki, with protesters again lobbing petrol bombs at police.
. None of the 19 officers on board were injured, authorities said, but the attack raised concern that violence against police could escalate. The shots were fired from the grounds of the National Technical University of Athens
’s facilities in Zografou
, known as Polytechnioupolis
. One bullet blew out two tires on the bus, while another struck the engine. The police found 7.62 mm caliber
bullet casings at the scene of the shooting. After ballistic examinations, it was announced that there were at least two shooters who used Kalashnikov
type rifle
s and that the particular weapons used in the attack had not been used in any other attack, robbery, or other criminal incident in Greece.
On Wednesday, 24 December 2008, hundreds of anarchists
marched through Athens streets in a peaceful protest.
On Thursday, 25 December 2008, in central Athens and the suburb of Palaio Faliron there was a string of arson attacks against banks and car dealerships, causing widespread damage but no injuries. There was also an attack against the offices of the Ministry for Development
in the city center. Arsonists also targeted the car of Deputy Environment and Public Works Minister
, Stavros Kaloyiannis, outside his home in the northwestern town of Ioannina
, destroying the vehicle. The assailants doused the wheels of the parked car with flammable liquid before setting it alight, according to the fire service.
and Thessaloniki
had ended and the administrative officials had begun assessing the cost of damage done during the occupation.
On Thursday, 1 January 2009 Arsonists attacked 10 banks and two car dealerships around Athens
and Piraeus
amidst the New Year celebrations. No injuries or arrests were reported by the police. The attacks caused minor damage. At least five arson attacks were also reported by police in Thessaloniki
; earlier that day police also briefly clashed with protesters, and fired tear gas at rock throwing demonstrators.
In the early morning of Monday, 5 January 2009 at least two masked gunmen fired over 20 rounds at a riot police unit guarding the Greek Ministry of Culture in central Athens, hitting a 21-year-old officer in the chest and groin. The officer had apparently spotted the gunmen and warned his colleagues shortly before he was hit. An automatic Kalashnikov
rifle and an MP5 submachine gun were used in the attack, also a fragmentation grenade
was used as a diversion as the perpetrators escaped. The wounded policeman, identified as Diamandis Matzounis, was in a critical, but stable, condition in hospital after six hours of surgery. Authorities said they had cordoned off the region around the site of the attack to collect evidence for forensic examination. At least 72 people were detained during the initial search for suspects. Police said ballistics tests showed the MP5 matched one used in a 30 April 2007, attack on a police station in Athens suburb Nea Ionia
. That attack caused no injuries but was claimed by the far-left Revolutionary Struggle
group. Police also said ballistics tests showed that a second weapon used on Monday, a Kalashnikov rifle, was used in the more recent attack on police, on 23 December 2008. On Wednesday 14 January 2009 Revolutionary Struggle sent a statement to the weekly satirical newspaper, To Pontiki. The statement said the group carried out the 23 December shooting attack and the separate 5 January shooting at the police officers. By Monday, 19 January 2009 Diamantis Matzounis The 21-year-old police officer seriously injured in the terrorist attack of 5 January 2009 was removed from intensive care following an improvement in his condition. Doctors said Diamantis Mantzounis had to undergo two operations to staunch a stomach hemorrhage caused by a bullet wound, but he has managed to recuperate.
On Friday, 9 January 2009 a long-planned education protest march took place in Athens. The rally was organized to coincide with the anniversary of the 1991 murder of high school teacher Nikos Temponeras by the secretary of the Patras
youth organization of the, back then, ruling New Democracy (Greece)
party, participants said they protest against police repression, corrupt politicians, the education reform and a social system that offers little hope, it was one of two held in the capital but it was the only one that turned violent. The trouble began after the rally by several thousand schoolchildren, teachers and students had almost reached its end, near the entrance to University of Athens where it had started. When hooded youths broke away from the student march and threw stones and flares at riot police, who fired tear gas and flash grenades. The youths then turned on police, hurling rocks and flares. At one point a group of protesters tried to force their way into the rector’s office and to occupy the central offices of the University of Athens. The occupation of the University’s offices was obstructed by groups of students and academics. According to rector Christos Kittas, police officers did not ask for university immunity to be lifted so that they could gain access to the faculty. Clashes continued in the area which was closed to traffic and where hundreds of demonstrators remained for an hour. There were repeated police charges and several arrests were made. Some 60 persons were arrested with several demonstrators severely injured in clashes with police. Between those arrested were fourteen lawyers, who said that they had nothing to do with the protest, also several people sustained minor injuries and one was hospitalized. Afterwards the influential Journalists' Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers
(ESIEA) protested to the Ministry for the Interior and Public Order about "the brutal attacks and beatings" to which reporters and camera crews had been subjected by some riot police units. "There may have been excesses to be condemned, we are looking into the issue, but the police did their job," Minister for the Interior and Public Order Prokopis Pavlopoulos
told Greek television. Later that evening, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the capital’s central police headquarters on Alexandras Avenue, leading to some tense scuffles with officers. But the crowd had dispersed by late night, according to police who did not report any additional problems.
Protests were carried on Thursday, the 15 January, policemen labor unionists also took part in the demonstrations "to condemn the violent phenomena, from wherever they come, and to state categorically that social problems are not solved by repressive measures". Veteran politician Manolis Glezos
who took part in the protest, attributed police violence to the obedience of police forces to the executive power and not the judiciary.
On Friday, 16 January some of the lawyers arrested on Friday's demonstration in Athens, filed suits against police officers accusing them for breach of duty, attempted bodily harm and unnecessarily exposing of people to tear gas.
On Wednesday, 17 January a demonstration was held in Larissa, where more than three thousand people protested against the anti-terrorism act and requested the withdrawal of the charges and the release of four jailed students ,who were arrested during the demonstrations of December 2008. Larissa was the only city where the act was applied last month when twenty five teenagers were arrested. At the same time protesters of a separate rally also in Larissa destroyed bank cameras and wrote slogans on walls, churches and supermarkets.
The shooting happened during a period where the Greek society faced a variety of difficulties in the midst of a worldwide economic slump. In a survey conducted shortly after the events for the Greek newspaper Kathimerini
, 60% of the respondents considered them to be part of a wider "social uprising". Many people were concerned with corruption scandals, most of which involved mishandling of public money, the spread of poverty, the increasing rate of unemployment amongst young graduates and the slowing economy as the effects of the global economic crisis began to show. The local student community—which formed the main body of protesters—had also been in significant turmoil since 2006, being opposed to a series of proposed laws regarding the reform of the country's education system. Many of the student demonstrations in relation to these laws in early 2007 turned violent and resulted in clashes with the police, though the perpetrators of the incidents of violence and vandalism, then as in December 2008, should not be necessarily identified with the students.
As in many other countries, young people are faced with expensive studies and are especially affected by unemployment. However, in terms of unemployment Greece is comparable with France, Germany, or Portugal; has a lower unemployment than Spain or Slovakia; and has more unemployment than Italy, Bulgaria, or Cyprus. Similarly, young people also represent a declining demographic group, compared to baby boomer
s, resulting in a weaker impact of the youth vote
in political life, though this is also not particular to Greece.
International Monetary Fund
Managing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn
warned that there was a risk of social unrest spreading unless the financial sector shared wealth more evenly. Greece had recently proposed to go through with €28 bn of cash injections to its banking system while at the same time leaving medicine suppliers unpaid.
Regarding the possibility that economic inequality
has been a factor, Greece has a Gini Index of income inequality of 34.3 (where a lower number represents a more egalitarian society in terms of distribution of wealth
), comparable with that of France and Ireland; less equitable than Germany, Bulgaria, or Ukraine; and more equitable than Italy, the UK, or Turkey.
Additionally Greece scores a 4.6 on Transparency International
's Corruption Perception Index which is used to gauge corruption in a state. This makes Greece comparable with Italy, Poland, or Turkey; more corrupt than France, the UK, or Cyprus; and less corrupt than Albania, Bulgaria, or Romania.
Greece also suffers from one of the highest levels of public debt in the EU, with foreign debt valued at 93.9% of projected 2008 GDP and 16% of revenue in 2009 projected to go towards servicing this debt.
near Piraeus on Saturday night detaining 22 people, including Italian, Spanish and Albanian citizens. They discovered some 200 empty bottles they believe were going to be used to make Molotov cocktails, two jerry cans of fuel, two hammers, three sledgehammers, three helmets, 13 gas masks and a stun grenade. They also seized a computer. Two of the people arrested were the son and daughter of PASOK MP and deputy parliamentary speaker Grigoris Niotis. “I have total faith in Greek justice. Just as I have faith in my children, who are adults,” said Niotis.
On Sunday, 6 December 2009 on 11.30 pm A memorial gathering, at the cemetery where 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos is buried, took place in the presence of his family and was attended by hundreds of people including the Greek Minister of Education. Later that day, several thousand demonstrators marched in central Athens and other cities across Greece and Europe to commemorate the death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos at about. However the protest in Athens was followed by scenes reminiscent of those that followed Grigoropoulos’s death, as several hundred protesters remained holed up in the grounds of the University of Athens
and the city’s Law School and used the two institutions as their bases, they clashed from roughly 6 pm and for about three hours with thousands of police who had been deployed in the city center to ensure that the anniversary of the killing of Alexis Grigoropoulos passed as peacefully as possible. Authorities said 134 people were detained for public order offenses in Athens and 80 in the northern city of Thessaloniki, where a similar demonstration also ended in violence, with youths throwing petrol bombs at police and setting fire to cars. At least five protesters and 16 police officers were injured during the clashes. Including one female demonstrator, who was severely injured by a policeman when he struck her with his motorbike. The rector of the University of Athens, Christos Kittas, was hospitalized after protesters stormed into his office. Kittas was struck on the head and was taken to the Ippocrateio Hospital, where doctors placed him in intensive care, saying that he had suffered a heart ischemia. According to the witness of two contributors of the magazine, Occupied London
, the director leaving the area had no blood on his head, and the story of his heart attack was fabricated as a "pretext for a full-on attack on the academic asylum".
The series of protests and riots continued months later with the May 2010 Greek protests.
The Greek government condemned the shooting. Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis wrote a letter to the student's family, stating that "In these difficult moments please accept my condolences for the unfair loss of your son. Like all Greeks I am deeply saddened. I know that nothing can relieve your pain." He continued on to write that "the state will see to it that such a tragedy does not happen again." On a nationally broadcast statement, he also vowed to end the "dangerous" extremist-inspired riots that have hit the country:
President
Karolos Papoulias
sent condolences in a telegram, while Interior minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos
expressed "deep sorrow". The police, who claimed that an investigation was underway into the "isolated" incident, also apologized.
Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis
has expressed his condolences for the death of the 15-year-old boy, adding that festive events for Christmas in Syntagma Square
will be suspended until further notice. Moreover, he assured the owners of damaged shops that they will be aided in restoring their damages, adding that he will propose the Municipal Committee be acquitted of municipal duties for 2009.
The Communist Party of Greece
(KKE) attributed the killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos to the result of escalating authoritarianism
, reinforcement of the suppression
mechanisms and their action, the network of reactionary laws and the "Euro-terror laws" created by the governments of ND
and PASOK
. The KKE has stated that the riots and the destruction is the work of foreign agents acting as provocateurs. The leader of the KKE, Aleka Papariga
, called for organized struggle against the main politics that it will be well guarded against suspicious command centers. Meanwhile, the Coalition of the Radical Left
(SYRIZA) spoke of a cruel murder. The Panhellenic Socialist Movement
issued an announcement holding the police responsible for the incident and stated that people "must answer the government's policies en masse and peacefully," while the Hellenic Federation of University Teachers' Associations (POSDEP) called a three-day strike, condemning the killing of the teenager.
From Moscow, where he attended Patriarch Alexy II's funeral, Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens
called on everyone to face the crisis and the problems ahead with co-operation and not with destruction. Also in an interview on 13 December, the Archbishop
added that the "youths are not enraged for no reason" and stated his belief that the effects of the global economic crisis coupled with the large unemployment rate are the causes of this violent outburst.
On 10 December, Prime Minister Karamanlis announced 7 governmental measures to aid the large number of Greek businesses that were damaged by the rioters, also aiding businesses that are undamaged. The Prime Minister stated that the commercial world of the country faced the destructive mania and the raw violence of extremist groups. "The government", he said, "will ensure the sentiment of public safety and support all damaged businesses.
The General Federation of Professional Tradesmen and Traders of Greece saluted the measures and agreed with the direction that the measures were headed in.
On 12 December, Vice-Minister of the Interior Panagiotis Chinofotis
, as a political leader of the Greek Police, said that he felt that he had to ask for forgiveness for the shooting incident and the resulting death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, since neither the defendant nor the defendant's lawyer
did so.
On 16 December, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis speaking to New Democracy (Greece)
’s parliamentary group, condemned the killing of the 15-year-old by the policeman, while calling for all parties to isolate rioters. He also acknowledged that "Long-unresolved problems, such as the lack of meritocracy, corruption in everyday life and a sense of social injustice disappoint young people". Karamanlis said income-tax cuts will go ahead. But he warned against high expectations, saying Greece will spend 12 billion euros, about 5 percent of GDP, just to service its debt. "Our top priority is to support those hurt the most ... (but) this debt is a huge burden that reduces the government's flexibility at this critical time".
to express their solidarity and to condemn the shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
Australia: Australia warned tourists of possible violent demonstrations. On 13 December a small group of protesters gathered outside the Greek consulate in Melbourne to express their solidarity and to condemn the shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos. The building of the consulate was also defaced with graffiti earlier that week.
Austria: Approximately 1200 demonstrators protested outside the Greek embassy in Vienna
.
Belgium: Two protests took place, a peaceful demonstrations in front of the Permanent Greek Representation to the European Communities in Brussels
with around 120 demonstrators, 9 were arrested afterward and a violent demonstration which took place in Ghent
where approximately 70 protesters attacked banks, shops, several undercover police officers and a camera crew, 19 rioters were arrested.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Demonstrations took place in front of Greek embassy in Sarajevo
by students of University of Sarajevo
.
Bulgaria: Protests took place in front of the Greek embassy in Sofia
.
China: China expressed concern about the safety of its nationals living in Greece.
Cyprus: Riots, demonstrations and clashes also spread to Cyprus. The riots began around midday on 8 December 2008 in the capital Nicosia
and the western city of Paphos
. In Paphos, student protesters gathered around the city's town hall and the police headquarters where they began verbally abusing the Cypriot police. The protesters also starting throwing rocks at the building, injuring at least one police officer. These violent clashes were met with the arrest of two students. In the city of Larnaca
, hundreds of students gathered at the police headquarters where they engaged in demonstrations and "scuffles" in response to the events in Athens
. On 10 December, Cyprus Airways
cancelled a number of flights to both mainland Greece and islands, including to Athens, Thessaloniki
and Heraklion
, due to the outbreak of strikes by air traffic controllers and other airport workers.
Denmark: 63 people were arrested in Copenhagen
when their protests in support of the Greek rioters allegedly turned violent.
France: Protesters entered the Greek consulate in Paris, France. The symbolic occupation was peaceful. 3000 demonstrators also gathered outside the Greek embassy in Paris and scuffled with police before partly blocking the Champs-Élysées
, the most prestigious avenue in Paris. In Bordeaux
, a city in the south of the country, demonstrators set cars alight outside the Greek consulate and wrote graffiti about a coming 'insurrection'.
Germany: On the night of 7 December 2008 and during the following week, spontaneous demonstrations of solidarity took place in numerous German cities, both by left-wing groups of Greek university students studying abroad and local leftist activists. In the first week after the incident, the German Indymedia network had reported demonstrations in 26 German cities, with participation ranging from a few dozen to several hundred people, among the biggest being Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne
, Hanover
, Bremen
, Leipzig, Dresden
, and Nuremberg
. On 8 December 2008, a group of demonstrators occupied the Greek consulate in Berlin: 240 people pushed their way into the lobby of the consulate at Wittenbergplatz
in western Berlin at around 9:40 am local time. One of the demonstrators told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur
that the demonstration was in protest against a Greek state that was responsible for the death of the teenager. The occupation ultimately ended peacefully. On 12 December more than 1500 demonstrators protested the death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Berlin, according to the German police. On 20 December German riot police confronted an estimated 950 protesters in Hamburg
who were expressing their sympathy for student protesters in Greece by marching under the banner of "Solidarity is a weapon." The German police reported that the protest actions were broken up after they escalated to rioting.
Ireland: Over two dozen people in the capital city, Dublin, picketed the Greek embassy in protest at the shooting and in solidarity with the protests. A second solidarity event was held after the call-out for international solidarity from those partaking in the events in Greece. Activists from the Workers Solidarity Movement, along with members of the Greek community in Ireland and individual activists, marched to the Greek embassy from Stephens Green with banners proclaiming 'RESIST THE POLICE: MURDERERS IN UNIFORM' 'OUR LIVES DO NOT BELONG TO THE STATE' and 'REMEMBER THE DEAD- FIGHT LIKE HELL FOR THE LIVING' The activists marched down a main-road behind these banners, at the height of the Christmas shopping period. The embassy had been attacked at some stage before the demonstration, and its front walls were covered in red paint. Two windows were also broken in the attack. When the rally arrived it was addressed by a Greek anarchist
living in Ireland.
Italy: Related graffiti
were found in Turin
near the Greek consulate. Many activists demonstrated in front of the Greek consulate in Bologna
. (Again one year later on 11 December 2009 during a students demonstration red paint was thrown against military police in front of the Greek consulate in Bologna
) Demonstrations took place also in Florence
and in front of the Hellenic Institute for Byzantine Studies in Venice
. In Rome, demonstrators burned a garbage bin and threw fire crackers and rocks at police cars trying to stop them from reaching the Greek embassy.
Luxembourg: Around thirty protesters marched through Luxembourg's city centre on Saturday 20 December 2008 afternoon to show solidarity with young people in Greece. The group assembled at 15:30 in the Place Guillaume and followed a route through the city centre to the Greek Embassy. Although the group disrupted traffic at times, the police reported no disturbances. the group dispersed around 6 pm.
Portugal: Some demonstrations were held in the city of Lisbon
and Amadora
, on the 20 December, the international day of solidarity with Greece.
Republic of Macedonia: Around 20 activists gathered in front of the Greek embassy in a peaceful protest in support of the Greek demonstrators. Protests were taken in front of the Greek Embassy in Skopje
on 14 December and at the main square of Skopje on 18 December.
Romania: Around 20 people protested in front of the Greek Consulate in Bucharest
. Three were detained. The protest included a die-in
.
Russia: The Greek embassy in Moscow was targeted by firebombers. As a result the Russian police increased security measures around the embassy. On 13 December about 30 activists of "Left Front" participated in a demonstration of solidarity. Approximately 15 people were arrested.
Spain: In Spain, 11 demonstrators were arrested and several policemen injured in clashes in Madrid
and Barcelona
. Attacks on a police station and a bank by Spanish youths in Madrid and Barcelona also fueled concern about copy-cat protests. In Seville
, a relatively small concentration of people in front of a police station was announced for 10 December, in the evening, since the day before, turning into a spontaneous demonstration of over 100 people through the streets. Slogans were chanted denouncing the repressive role of the police and State, labelled as "assassin", "violent", "repressor" and "terrorist", as well as for solidarity with Alexandros Grigoropoulos and Greek riots.
Sweden: In Stockholm
, approximately 50 demonstrators protested the killing of Alexandros Grigoropoulos outside the Greek embassy.
Switzerland: In Zurich
, approximately 120 demonstrators protested the killing of Alexandros Grigoropoulos and police violence and expressed their support to the demonstrators in Greece.
Netherlands: In The Hague, Amsterdam, Nijmegen, and Leiden solidarity demonstrations took place. Approximately 200 demonstrators took part in each of these largely peaceful demonstrations.
Turkey: A dozen left-wing demonstrators daubed red paint on the Greek consulate in Istanbul
. Also a large demonstration was organised on 11 December by the EMEP
. Anarchists attacked to the Greek consulate building with red paint and broke into the building.
United Kingdom: Britain warned tourists of possibly violent demonstrations. On 8 December 2008 in London, up to a hundred protesters clashed with police after trying to storm the Greek embassy in London. A group of anarchist demonstrators tore down the Greek flag from the building in Holland Park
and set it on fire. The police have been called to deal with "about 30" young protesters that seem to be mostly students. Currently, the embassy is again working normally, and the situation is calm. Two protests were held in Edinburgh
, on 8 and 10 December, both involving protest marches up to Castle Street.
United States: On 10 December, the Greek consulate in New York was defaced with black graffiti, and a rock was thrown at one of the windows. On 11 December, 50 people in Olympia
, the capital of the state of Washington, marched in solidarity with the Greek revolt. Bank windows were smashed, resulting in one arrest. On 17 December, students at The New School
in New York City occupied a university building, demanding the resignation of several members of the administration and greater power in university administration, both in solidarity with the Greek students and in protest of the current economy
. The students stated that they were inspired by and stood in solidarity with the civil unrest in Greece. In San Francisco, a protest ended in five arrests after protesters attacked businesses at Westfield Mall. In St. Louis
, Missouri six people were arrested at a protest that blocked traffic. In Boston, Massachusetts, there was a solidarity demonstration outside the Greek consulate. In Providence, Rhode Island, about thirty people marched through the streets in a funeral procession in solidarity with the uprising in Greece as well as against the war in Gaza.
's Central Committee released a written statement where they said that "an effort is being made by the bourgeoisie state, the ND
government to utilise the blind violence of the hooded people, which we are witnessing mainly through the television channels, to check the swelling wave of discontent and popular intervention that is developing."
On 12 December, PASOK
leader George Papandreou speaking before his party's political council members blamed the ruling New Democracy
government for the recent violent street protests in Athens and other parts of the country. He held the government solely responsible for everything taking place in the country, stated that "the government itself is the problem" and called for early elections so that, the Greek people will be able to provide a clear mandate.
On the same day, MP Adonis Georgiades
of the Popular Orthodox Rally
accused the political leadership of the Greek police for giving orders to the riot police not to intervene effectively to stop the riots at their initial stage. Also Popular Orthodox Rally
proposed a project that anyone hooded should be arrested , to stop university asylum , and forbid the protests , in order to stop the riots.
In a meeting with police labor unionists, Alekos Alavanos
the parliamentary leader of the Coalition of the Radical Left
criticised the government for using the riot police as their own "army", he also, asked for an inter-party committee to examine the responsibilities and rights of the Greek police, whereas Alexis Tsipras
, current president of the Coalition of the Radical Left, declared that the situation is indeed very grim and that the Greek government needs to find solutions for the actual causes of this "new social phenomenon".
, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Greece
, called the leadership of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) to "stop patting the hooded rioters on the back". Georgios Karatzaferis
, president of the Popular Orthodox Rally, also stated that "there are some political powers that are serious, and some that pat them on the back...". Alexis Tsipras
, SYRIZA president, replied "we don't pat them on the back, and we don't take the role of the state's prosecutor either". He attacked the Communist Party
, describing it as a conservative power that is disturbed when the youth spontaneously storm the streets. He also stated that the young people of the country have reached a deadlock, and this deadlock and their problems force them to the streets. Nikos Konstantopoulos
, former SYRIZA chairman, spoke to a local radio station and criticised the present party leadership for not condemning the riots directly.
On Thursday 11th, Georgios Karatzaferis referred to a press release of the newspaper "Adesmeutos Typos" which, he claimed, had an MP of the Coalition supporting "the terrorism" instead of condemning the riots. Alekos Alavanos replied that, "Some have lost sense of what they say and what antidemocratic consequences their sayings might bring". On Friday 12th, in the parliament, MPs of both ruling New Democracy and the PASOK opposition criticised SYRIZA for not condemning the riots, and for Alexis Tsipras
's statement that "the struggle must be moved in the schools".
On Sunday 15th, Alexis Tsipras
current president of SYRIZA called an unscheduled press conference where he dismissed criticism and decried what he called "slanderous" statements against the recent protests, he also added that "Synaspismos
and its affiliated Parliamentary group, SYRIZA, are in an ideological conflict with the hooded gangs, because violence brings forth violence and leads to an impasse".
, who had taken on 7 December some snap-shots of a policeman targeting to protesters with his gun, was fired, as the paper's editor claimed he was responsible for the leakage of the photos in the Internet. The photographer claimed the photos were not any more in his possession in the time of the leak, said that the editor was unwilling to publish them and denounced his sack as an attempt of political censorship, while left-wing newspapers and websites noted the editor's pro-government stance during the riots. The same newspaper received harsh criticism for misquoting Isocrates
in its front page of 10 December.
On 13 December, the Greek National Council of Radio and Television informed all radio and television stations throughout the country that they should be careful in how they broadcast the news about the riots. The Council informed the stations mainly of the necessity of not showing scenes of extreme violence (in ways that might be interpreted as encouraging extreme anti-social behavior), to avoid acting as if they were judicial authorities, and to avoid showing in public documents and other elements that might be the subject of legal proceedings. The Council noted that "there is danger of breaking the broadcasting laws by the way of presenting the latest events."
of the Greek 10 year Government bonds had, by 12 December 2008, widened to 230 basis points against the corresponding German Government bonds (Bundesanleihen), a level that represents the highest level for the past nine years and the highest since the country entered the eurozone
. This had an immediate effect on the cost of financing for Greece’s government; these costs rose considerably as a higher yield
had to be paid on any bonds it sold. In addition, and given the credit crisis prevalent at the time, this curtailed its ability to issue bonds
at all since investors were more risk averse than normal.
Additionally, on Wednesday, 17 December 2008, the credit rating agency
Moody’s declared it would put Greece’s credit rating
, already the lowest in the Eurozone at A1, off positive outlook if political and economic instability continued.
Exarcheia
Exarcheia, alternatively spelled as Exarchia, Exarheia and Exarhia , is the name of a neighborhood in downtown Athens, Greece close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. The Exarcheia region is famous as a stomping ground for Greek anarchists...
district of central Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. The murder of a young student by police resulted in large protests and demonstrations
Demonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
, which escalated to widespread riot
Riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...
ing, with hundreds of rioters damaging property and engaging riot police
Riot control
Riot control refers to the measures used by police, military, or other security forces to control, disperse, and arrest civilians who are involved in a riot, demonstration, or protest. Law enforcement officers or soldiers have long used non-lethal weapons such as batons and whips to disperse crowds...
with Molotov cocktails, stones and other objects. Demonstrations and rioting soon spread to several other cities, including Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
, the country's second-largest city.
Outside Greece, solidarity demonstrations, riots and, in some cases, clashes with local police also took place in more than 70 cities around the world, including London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Dublin, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
as well as Nicosia
Nicosia
Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
, the capital of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, and the western Cypriot city of Paphos
Paphos
Paphos , sometimes referred to as Pafos, is a coastal city in the southwest of Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos and New Paphos. The currently inhabited city is New Paphos. It lies on the Mediterranean coast, about west of the...
. In cities far away from Athens, solidarity often was expressed as a peaceful informational protest, for example Sao Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, it proved that people could spread the news around the globe, from San Francisco to Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. Newspaper Kathimerini
Kathimerini
I Kathimerini is a daily morning newspaper published in Athens. It is published in the Greek language, as well as in an abridged English-language edition. The English edition is sold separately in the United States and as a supplement to the International Herald Tribune in Greece and Cyprus. On 2...
called the rioting "the worst Greece has seen since the restoration of democracy
Metapolitefsi
The Metapolitefsi was a period in Greek history after the fall of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974 that includes the transitional period from the fall of the dictatorship to the Greek legislative elections of 1974 and the democratic period immediately after these elections.The long...
in 1974".
While the unrest was triggered by the shooting incident, commentators described the reactions as expressing deeper causes as well, especially a widespread feeling of frustration in the younger generation about specific economic problems of the country (partly as a result of the global economic crisis), a rising unemployment rate among the young generation and a perception of general inefficiency and corruption in Greek state institutions.
The shooting incident
Exarcheia
Exarcheia, alternatively spelled as Exarchia, Exarheia and Exarhia , is the name of a neighborhood in downtown Athens, Greece close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. The Exarcheia region is famous as a stomping ground for Greek anarchists...
district of central Athens.
According to press reports, two Special Guards (a special category of the Greek police
Greek Police
The Hellenic Police is the national police force of Greece. It is a very large agency, its responsibilities ranging from road traffic control to counter-terrorism....
personnel, originally meant for guard duties on public property) had been engaged in a minor verbal clash with a small group of teenagers in a main street of Exarcheia
Exarcheia
Exarcheia, alternatively spelled as Exarchia, Exarheia and Exarhia , is the name of a neighborhood in downtown Athens, Greece close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. The Exarcheia region is famous as a stomping ground for Greek anarchists...
, outside a shop. On driving away in their police car, they were then confronted by another small group at a nearby street crossing. The two guards were ordered by the Greek police
Greek Police
The Hellenic Police is the national police force of Greece. It is a very large agency, its responsibilities ranging from road traffic control to counter-terrorism....
center of operations to disengage immediately and withdraw from the confrontation site. However, the two guards did not comply and are therefore accused of insubordination. Instead, the two special guards chose to station the police vehicle outside the PASOK
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...
headquarters, left their car and went to Tzavella Street on foot in order to confront the youngsters.
Although the incident remains shrouded in mystery and conflicting reports, the following is an attempt to piece together the saga. Following some exchange of verbal abuse that, according to several witnesses, was initiated by the guards, one of them, Epaminondas Korkoneas, fired his gun. The initial police's report on the incident claims that the special guard shot in response to a renewed attack by the youths that involved throwing stones and bottles. Eyewitnesses speaking to the Greek mass media, however, reported that the special guards were not attacked by the youths nor was their physical safety put in danger at any time. Instead, the special guards approached the group and verbally assaulted them in order to provoke them. The special guard said he fired three rounds, two warning shots in the air and a third aimed on the ground. Several eyewitnesses said they believed the policeman had targeted the youngsters directly.
The victim, Alexandros – Andreas Grigoropoulos was a 15-year-old student, who lived in the affluent northern Athens suburb of Palaio Psychiko
Psychiko
Psychiko is a suburb of Athens, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Filothei-Psychiko, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit.Psychiko is located to the south of the Olympic stadium...
and attended a private school (the Moraitis School
Moraitis School
The Moraitis School is a co-educational private school in Athens, Greece. It is located in Psychico, a suburb north of the Greek capital. In student population terms, the Moraitis school is one of the largest private schools in Athens...
). Immediately following the shooting, he was transported to the nearby Evangelismos Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Investigation of the shooting
A criminal investigation was initiated against the police officer who fired the shot on a charge of murder ("intentional homicide" according to Greek law), while his partner was charged as an accomplice. Both were suspended from duty and were kept in detention. The defense counsel that was initially hired resigned shortly after accepting the case, citing personal reasons.On 10 December, Alexis Kougias, counsel for the defendants, said that preliminary results of the ballistic tests apparently show that it was indeed a ricochet
Ricochet
A ricochet is a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. The possibility of ricochet is one of the reasons for the common firearms safety rule "Never shoot at a flat, hard surface."-Variables:...
and that the two policemen will only appear before the Public Prosecutor after the forensic, toxicological, and ballistic examinations have been completed. However, the results of forensic tests indicate that the bullet that killed Grigoropoulos had entered the youth’s body directly. This casts doubt on claims by the 37-year-old policeman charged with the boy’s murder that the bullet had been fired as a warning and ricocheted. On the morning of 11 December, Dimitris Tsovolas
Dimitris Tsovolas
Dimitris Tsovolas is a politician of Greece.He was born at Melissourgoi, a village outside Arta, Epirus, Greece in 1942. He studied the Law at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki. He worked as a lawyer in Arta from 1970 to 1977.He later began his career in politics as a member of PASOK...
, former MP and Economic Minister under the previous government formed by PASOK
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...
agreed to serve as the counsel for Grigoropoulos' family.
On the same day, counsel for the two policemen involved in the shooting released an explanatory statement that described the deceased as demonstrating "deviant behaviour". According to the memorandum, Grigoropoulos was a teenager from a wealthy family, he frequented the Exarcheia district, and he had allegedly taken part in riotous activities that took place following the end of a basketball game two hours before he was shot, and that, in general "the victim did not show the expected behaviour and personality of a 15-year old adolescent". Grigoropoulos' family, friends, schoolmates and high school teachers immediately condemned those statements and declared in public that the allegations in the defendants' memorandum are "completely inaccurate" and "insulting"; the private school Grigoropoulos attended also issued a public statement that denies all the allegations. Alexis' stance, as well as his comments in the explanatory memorandum forced the Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
bar association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him.
On 15 December, Alexis appealed that the two defendants be released from custody, on the grounds that neither of them ever had any previous criminal convictions, that their names and addresses were known, that they had considerable ties with their community, and that the charges were based on the testimony of witnesses that the defendants objected to. Specifically, the defendants' counsel took issue with the testimony of four eyewitnesses who had testified for the Public Prosecutor, and appeared to refute almost all the claims made by the defendants and their counsel.
On 17 December, Dimitris Tsovolas
Dimitris Tsovolas
Dimitris Tsovolas is a politician of Greece.He was born at Melissourgoi, a village outside Arta, Epirus, Greece in 1942. He studied the Law at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki. He worked as a lawyer in Arta from 1970 to 1977.He later began his career in politics as a member of PASOK...
, counsel for Grigoropoulos' family, publicly requested that the defendants and defendants' counsel stop provoking the Greek people and the victim's family by making degrading comments, unsubstantiated accusations, and smearing the memory of Alexandros. The ballistics report was also released on 17 December and stated that the bullet that killed Grigoropoulos had in fact ricochet
Ricochet
A ricochet is a rebound, bounce or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. The possibility of ricochet is one of the reasons for the common firearms safety rule "Never shoot at a flat, hard surface."-Variables:...
ed. However, forensic reports conducted on 21 December concluded that the bullet was not fired in the air, but rather towards the group of teenagers, though there may have been no intention to kill the boy.
Court decision
On 11 October 2010, the Mixed Jury Court of AmfissaAmfissa
Amfissa is a town and a former municipality in Phocis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Delphi, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It is also the capital of the regional unit of Phocis...
(consisting of 3 judges and 4 jurors) found the two special guards guilty. Korkoneas was found guilty of "homicide with direct intention to cause harm" and Vasilis Saraliotis was found guilty as an accomplice. Korkoneas was sentenced to lifetime and an additional 15 months of imprisonment (votes 4–3) while Saraliotis was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment (votes 6–1).
First 2 days
Within the hour following the shooting of Grigoropoulοs, angry demonstrators took to the streets in and around Exarcheia, and violent confrontations with the police erupted. Meanwhile, similar demonstrations were reported in other Greek cities as well, including ThessalonikiThessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
, Ioannina
Ioannina
Ioannina , often called Jannena within Greece, is the largest city of Epirus, north-western Greece, with a population of 70,203 . It lies at an elevation of approximately 500 meters above sea level, on the western shore of lake Pamvotis . It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the...
, Komotini
Komotini
Komotini is a city in Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace and of the Rhodope regional unit. It is also the administrative center of the Rhodope-Evros super-prefecture. The city is home to the Democritus University of Thrace, founded in 1973...
, Kastoria
Kastoria
Kastoria is a city in northern Greece in the periphery of West Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria peripheral unit. It is situated on a promontory on the western shore of Lake Orestiada, in a valley surrounded by limestone mountains...
, Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
, Tripoli
Tripoli, Greece
Tripoli is a city of about 25,000 inhabitants in the central part of the Peloponnese, in Greece. It is the capital of the prefecture of Arcadia and the centre of the municipality of Tripolis, pop...
, Volos
Volos
Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...
, Trikala
Trikala
Trikala is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece. It is the capital of the Trikala peripheral unit, and is located NW of Athens, NW, of Karditsa, E of Ioannina and Metsovo, S of Grevena, SW of Thessaloniki, and W of Larissa...
, Mytilene
Mytilene
Mytilene is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island of Lesbos. Mytilene, whose name is pre-Greek, is built on the...
, Agrinio
Agrinio
Agrinion is the largest city and municipality of the Aetolia-Acarnania peripheral unit of Greece, with 96,321 inhabitants. It is the economical center of Aetolia-Acarnania, although its capital is the town of Mesolonghi. The settlement dates back to ancient times...
, Kavala
Kavala
Kavala , is the second largest city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala peripheral unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos...
, Corfu
Corfu (city)
Corfu is a city and a former municipality on the island of Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Corfu, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island and of the Corfu regional unit. The city also serves as a capital...
, Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
, Chania
Chania
Chaniá , , also transliterated Chania, Hania, and Xania, older form Chanea and Venetian Canea, Ottoman Turkish خانيه Hanya) is the second largest city of Crete and the capital of the Chania peripheral unit...
, Heraklion
Heraklion
Heraklion, or Heraclion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete, Greece. It is the 4th largest city in Greece....
, Rhodes, Karditsa
Karditsa
Karditsa is a city in western Thessaly in mainland Greece. The city of Karditsa is the capital of Karditsa peripheral unit.Inhabitation is attested from 9000 BCE. Karditsa ls linked with GR-30, the road to Karpenisi, and the road to Palamas and Larissa...
, Lamia
Lamia (city)
Lamia is a city in central Greece. The city has a continuous history since antiquity, and is today the capital of the regional unit of Phthiotis and of the Central Greece region .-Name:...
, Stylida
Stylida
Stylida is a town and a municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. The population of the municipal unit was 6,858 .-Municipality:The municipality Stylida was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 3 former municipalities, that became municipal...
, Drama
Drama, Greece
Drama , the ancient Drabescus , is a town and municipality in northeastern Greece. Drama is the capital of the peripheral unit of Drama which is part of the East Macedonia and Thrace periphery. The town is the economic center of the municipality , which in turn comprises 53.5 percent of the...
, Xanthi
Xanthi
Xanthi ; is a city in Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi peripheral unit of the periphery of East Macedonia and Thrace.-History:...
, Lagkadas
Lagkadas
Lagadas ; is a town and a municipality in the northeast part of Thessaloniki regional unit, Greece. Population 16,836 .-Historic Facts:Zübeyde Hanım , Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's mother, was born in Lagadas in 1857.-Municipality:...
, Kozani
Kozani
Kozani is a city in northern Greece, capital of Kozani regional unit and of West Macedonia region. It is located in the western part of Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmonas river valley...
, Alexandroupoli
Alexandroupoli
Alexandroupoli , is a city of Greece and the capital of the Evros peripheral unit in Thrace. Named after King Alexander, it is an important port and commercial center of northeastern Greece.-Name:...
, Larisa and Corinth
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
. After midnight, the demonstrations in Athens turned into violent rioting in some central streets of the city. By dawn on Sunday, 24 police officers had been injured, one seriously (with facial burns and his little finger mutilated) and 31 shops (particularly across Ermou Street), 9 banks, and 25 cars had been either seriously damaged, burned, or destroyed within the downtown area.
First week
By Sunday 7 December 2008 38 vehicles were damaged, 13 police officers were injured, and 22 rioters were arrested.Monday 8 December 2008 saw police assess damage as daily schedules resumed and rioting subsided. However, all was not quiet, as all over Greece, several thousands of high school students walked out
Walkout
In labor disputes, a walkout is a labor strike, the act of employees collectively leaving the workplace as an act of protest.A walkout can also mean the act of leaving a place of work, school, a meeting, a company, or an organization, especially if meant as an expression of protest or disapproval.A...
of their schools and marched on local police stations, throwing eggs, paint bombs, and water bottles. Protesters continued to occupy university campuses around the nation, while organizations such as the Communist Party of Greece
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
announced plans for protests later that day. The massive demonstrations of that evening were confronted by police using tear gas; during the demonstrations, some 11 public buildings around the central plaza of Athens, Syntagma Square
Syntagma Square
Syntagma Square , is located in central Athens, Greece. The Square is named after the Constitution that King Otto was forced to grant the people after a popular and military uprising, on September 3, 1843....
, were set on fire.
Students around Greece proceeded to occupy their school buildings, in protest, including in Serres
Serres
Serres is a city in Greece, seat of the Serres prefecture.Serres may also refer to:Places:* Serres, Germany, a part of Wiernsheim in Baden-WürttembergIn France:* Serres, Aude in the Aude département...
, Imathia, Chalkidiki, Pieria, and Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
. The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is the largest Greek university, and the largest university in the Balkans. It was named after the philosopher Aristotle, who was born in Stageira, Chalcidice, about 55 km east of Thessaloniki, in Central Macedonia...
, the National Technical University of Athens
National Technical University of Athens
The National Technical University of Athens , sometimes simply known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest and most prestigious higher education institutions of Greece....
, as well as the Athens University of Economics and Business remained under student occupation. Rioters also set fire to the Kostis Palamas building that led to the total destruction of the European Law Library situated at the corner of Akadimias
Akadimias Street
Akadimias Street is a major street in Athens that runs parallel to Panepistimiou Street from Vassilissis Sofias Avenue to Kanningos Square in the area of Exarcheia. Its total length is about 1.2 km. It has three lanes and runs almost diagonally from southeast to northwest...
and Sina street. After the fire, the rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in Southeast Europe and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837. Today, it is the second-largest institution of higher learning in Greece,...
, Christos Kittas, resigned, but some days later withdrew his resignation.
A police report released Tuesday, 9 December 2008 in the morning put the numbers of injured police officers at 12, arrested rioters at 87, and persons who had been brought before a public prosecutor at 176. In Thessaloniki, 16 rioters were arrested for theft, 3 of whom were under 18 years old. After four days of rioting, some citizens began to act against the rioters, and some rioters fired on police officers. Citizens attacked people that were found looting and were seen throwing stones to protect their belongings. In the city of Patras, according to the city's mayor, members of far-right organisations took part in the violence. In Athens, seven police officers were injured, four rioters were arrested for violence against the police, 12 were arrested for theft and 55 were arrested for rioting with another 25 people of non-Greek nationality arrested for the same reason.
In a report on Tuesday, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
accused the Greek Police of brutality in handling the riots. The Greek department of Amnesty International canceled the scheduled celebrations on 10 December for the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
in response to the police violence in Greece.
The crisis deepened on Wednesday 10 December 2008 when the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) and the Civil Servants' Confederation (ADEDY), representing 2.5 million workers or roughly half of the total Greek workforce, called a one-day general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
in protest against the government's economic policies. Rioting continued in Athens as thousands of workers gathered for anti-government protests at Syntagma Square
Syntagma Square
Syntagma Square , is located in central Athens, Greece. The Square is named after the Constitution that King Otto was forced to grant the people after a popular and military uprising, on September 3, 1843....
.
On Thursday, 11 December 2008 4,000 students marched against the police throwing firebombs.
On Friday, 12 December 2008 students attacked police outside the parliament building. Riot police fired tear gas in response. Heavy rain helped curtail demonstrations compared to previous days. The protests inspired small protests in some European cities, sowing fears of copycat riots elsewhere. On the same day, Greek police issued an appeal for more tear gas after supplies ran low, since more than 4,600 capsules of it were released against the protestors by that time.
On Saturday, 13 December 2008 large groups of demonstrators gathered in front of the Greek Parliament in central Athens. Despite the fact that the protest in front of the Greek parliament was relatively peaceful, the riot police attempted to dissolve it at 1:30 (local time) by using tear gas and violence. On the same day, about 100 protesters firebombed a police station near the Exarcheia district where Alexandros Grigoropoulos was killed.
On Sunday, 14 December 2008 students joined residents of the Exarcheia
Exarcheia
Exarcheia, alternatively spelled as Exarchia, Exarheia and Exarhia , is the name of a neighborhood in downtown Athens, Greece close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. The Exarcheia region is famous as a stomping ground for Greek anarchists...
district to demand the renaming of that street in honour of the dead teenager. Also, at least four radio stations based in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
were occupied by protesters. In Thessaloniki, students demonstrated in solidarity with all the people who were arrested as a result of rioting over the past week.
Second week
On Monday, 15 December 2008 students gathered outside the General Attica Police Directorate in central AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. The riot police chose to dissolve the protest through violence after some of the demonstrators threw eggs against one riot police squad. Many of the demonstrators were of school-age. Several newspapers report that the protesters were provoked by policemen. In Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
, approximately 300 students rallied outside the local Korydallos Prison
Korydallos Prison
Korydallos Prison Complex is the main prison of Greece, housing both maximum-security men and women. It is located in Korydallos, Piraeus. Its most famous detainees are the November 17 terrorist members and Colonel Nikolaos Dertilis, the last surviving member of the military junta. Korydallos...
and taunted the police who fired tear gas to disperse them. According to teachers' unions, some 600 schools were under occupation, while 150 university facilities across the country had been taken over according to the Greek Ministry of Education. In Ioannina
Ioannina
Ioannina , often called Jannena within Greece, is the largest city of Epirus, north-western Greece, with a population of 70,203 . It lies at an elevation of approximately 500 meters above sea level, on the western shore of lake Pamvotis . It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the...
, the local public radio station was occupied by students and far-leftist groups. Rallies and demonstrations have also taken place in Chania
Chania
Chaniá , , also transliterated Chania, Hania, and Xania, older form Chanea and Venetian Canea, Ottoman Turkish خانيه Hanya) is the second largest city of Crete and the capital of the Chania peripheral unit...
, Heraklion
Heraklion
Heraklion, or Heraclion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete, Greece. It is the 4th largest city in Greece....
, Larissa
Larissa
Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos, the city of Thessaloniki and Athens...
and Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
.
On Tuesday, 16 December 2008 rallies and protests took place outside many police station
Police station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
s in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
. Early in the afternoon, masked youths emerged from the university complex in Zografou
Zografou
Zografou is a suburb in the eastern part of Athens, Greece. It is located about 5 km from downtown Athens, 2 km SW of Katechaki Avenue, 4 km from the Hymettus Ring forming part of the Attiki Odos private superhighway network, and 3 km E of Kifissias Avenue...
and firebomb
Firebomb
Firebomb may refer to:* Firebombing* Incendiary device* Molotov cocktail* A season 2 episode of the television show Alias* "Fire Bomb", a song by Rihanna from her 2009 album Rated R...
ed nearby Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
' riot police headquarters. Six police officers were injured and ten vehicles were burnt. Meanwhile a group of around 30 protesters infiltrated the studios of public broadcaster ERT
Elliniki Radiofonia Tileorasi
The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation is the Greek state-owned public radio and television broadcasting corporation. It is a member of EBU.Since 70's ERT is part of the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by EBU...
and interrupted a news broadcast featuring Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis. For about a minute, the protesters stood in front of the camera holding banners reading “Stop watching, get out into the streets.” ERT Chairman Christos Panagopoulos tendered his resignation over the incident but it was rejected by the government. “It is unacceptable for unidentified individuals to deprive others of their right to information,” he said.
On Wednesday, 17 December 2008 a rally was held outside the capital's main courthouses, where youths threw eggs and fruit at the police. There was also one demonstration organised by the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) in central Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
from Omonoia Square
Omonoia Square
Omonoia Square is a central square in Athens. It marks the northern corner of the downtown area defined by the city plans of the 19th century, and is one of the city's principal traffic hubs...
to the Greek Parliament, drawing around 5000 people. Student protesters evaded security guards at the Acropolis of Athens
Acropolis of Athens
The Acropolis of Athens or Citadel of Athens is the best known acropolis in the world. Although there are many other acropoleis in Greece, the significance of the Acropolis of Athens is such that it is commonly known as The Acropolis without qualification...
and unfurled two giant pink banners over a wall near the Parthenon to rally support for continued demonstrations. "Thursday 18/12 demonstrations in all Europe," one banner read, while the other simply bore the message, "Resistance," in Greek, English, Spanish and German. "We chose this monument to democracy, this global monument, to proclaim our resistance to state violence and demand rights in education and work," "(We did it) to send a message globally and to all Europe." said the protestors. Government spokesman, Evangelos Antonaros, said this protest was "inexcusable" and accused the protesters of tarnishing Greece's image abroad. In Kaisariani
Kaisariani
Kaisariani , also Kessariani, is a suburb in the eastern part of Athens, Greece. Kaisariani is located about 7 km from downtown Athens, about 4 km SW of Katechaki Avenue 4 km from the Hymettus Ring , which forms part of the Attiki Odos private superhighway network, and 6 km S...
, near the riot police headquarters that were targeted by youths on Tuesday, a group of anarchists
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
torched a police bus. The only person in the bus, the driver, managed to escape unhurt. In another protest, about 40 people – including workers, immigrants and unemployed citizens – occupied the offices of the country's main labor union, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE). The union's president, Giannis Panagopoulos, said the protest was mistargeted: “The GSEE does not govern this country”. A protest was also held outside the Prefecture of Thessaloniki offices and the Ministry for Macedonia–Thrace
Minister for Macedonia–Thrace (Greece)
The Minister for Macedonia–Thrace was the government minister in charge of Greece's defunct Ministry of Macedonia–Thrace. The last minister was Stavros Kalafatis...
which is also based in Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
. Late that night, a homemade explosive device planted outside a branch of Eurobank in the Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
district of Kalamaria
Kalamaria
Kalamariá is a municipality of the Thessaloniki Urban Area, located about 7 km southeast of downtown Thessaloniki. It is the second largest municipality of the Thessaloniki Urban Area as well as one of the largest in Greece, with a population increase of 8% since the 1991...
damaged the building’s facade when it detonated. A similar device smashed the windows of a local Citizens’ Information and Service Center (KEP). In Ioannina
Ioannina
Ioannina , often called Jannena within Greece, is the largest city of Epirus, north-western Greece, with a population of 70,203 . It lies at an elevation of approximately 500 meters above sea level, on the western shore of lake Pamvotis . It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the...
, the town hall was occupied, while in Chania
Chania
Chaniá , , also transliterated Chania, Hania, and Xania, older form Chanea and Venetian Canea, Ottoman Turkish خانيه Hanya) is the second largest city of Crete and the capital of the Chania peripheral unit...
, a local television station remained under occupation by protesters for about 1 hour.
On Thursday, 18 December 2008 demonstrations took place in central Athens, more than 12,000 protesters crowded the streets near the Greek parliament in a peaceful demonstration in central Athens which turned violent when a group of protesters broke away from the rally and threw rocks and firebombs at police and buildings near Parliament, overturned a car and set fire to trash cans, splashed the police with red paint and tried to burn down the city’s main Christmas tree which had just been replaced after being torched during last weeks riots. The police responded with tear gas and flash grenades, and drove the rioters back toward the administrative headquarters of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the university’s School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences. After another round of pitched battles between masked rioters and the police, several hundred protesters entered the School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences. Christmas shoppers fled the streets and retailers rolled down their shutters as protesters smashed store fronts and burned at least four cars. Demonstrations also took place in Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
where protesters gathered outside the Ministry for Macedonia–Thrace
Minister for Macedonia–Thrace (Greece)
The Minister for Macedonia–Thrace was the government minister in charge of Greece's defunct Ministry of Macedonia–Thrace. The last minister was Stavros Kalafatis...
. Rallies and protests also took place in Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
, Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
, Chania
Chania
Chaniá , , also transliterated Chania, Hania, and Xania, older form Chanea and Venetian Canea, Ottoman Turkish خانيه Hanya) is the second largest city of Crete and the capital of the Chania peripheral unit...
and Trikala
Trikala
Trikala is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece. It is the capital of the Trikala peripheral unit, and is located NW of Athens, NW, of Karditsa, E of Ioannina and Metsovo, S of Grevena, SW of Thessaloniki, and W of Larissa...
. Some labour unions stopped work in solidarity with the demonstrators. The work stoppage by the air traffic controllers forced Olympic Airlines
Olympic Airlines
Olympic Airlines was the flag carrier airline of Greece, with its head office in Athens. It operated services to 37 domestic destinations and to 32 destinations world-wide. Its main base was at Athens International Airport, with hubs at Thessaloniki International Airport, "Macedonia" and Rhodes...
to cancel 28 flights and postpone 14. Hospitals were also operating with very limited staff.
On Friday, 19 December 2008 a protest took place outside the Greek parliament, and a solidarity concert outside the administrative building of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. More than 1500 people demonstrated peacefully in the western suburb of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Peristeri
Peristeri
Peristeri is a suburban municipality in Athens, Greece, located about 5 km NW of the downtown area. The municipality is bordered by the Cephissus/Cephissos River, Athinon Avenue , Chaidari in the west and Petroupoli in the northwest, with a size of around...
following another shooting of a 16-year-old on Wednesday, 17 December, night. The teenager was struck in the hand by a bullet fired by an unidentified assailant while sitting in a park, outside a local high school with friends. The police admitted that they had made a mistake in their initial statement that the boy was hit by an air-gun pellet. Tests revealed it was either a .38 Special
.38 Special
The .38 Smith & Wesson Special is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson. It is most commonly used in revolvers, although some semi-automatic pistols and carbines also use this round...
or .357 Magnum
.357 Magnum
The .357 S&W Magnum , or simply .357 Magnum, is a revolver cartridge created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, Colonel D. B. Wesson of firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson, and Winchester. It is based upon Smith & Wesson's earlier .38 Special cartridge. The .357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in...
bullet. Officers are investigating the incident, anxious to disprove rumors that an off-duty or undercover policeman fired the shot. A police spokesman said that no officers were in the area at the time of the shooting and an investigation was under way. Masked youths attacked the French Institute in Athens with firebombs, "Spark in Athens. Fire in Paris. Insurrection is coming," read one graffiti spray-painted onto the building's walls in French. Another, written in Greek, read "France, Greece, uprising everywhere". Later on Friday, about 50 protesters interrupted the official premiere of the Greek National Theater, holding up banners urging people to join the demonstrations.
On Saturday, 20 December 2008 about 150 youth attacked the Christmas tree at Syntagma Square in central Athens, at around 16.00, hanging trash bags from its branches before clashing with riot police. The square was cleared within two hours. At least three news photographers were injured by police batons. The Christmas tree protest had been advertised as part of a day of events in Greece and around the world to commemorate Grigoropoulos' shooting. On Saturday evening, masked men broke into the building housing the offices of Tiresias SA, a company that keeps records of delinquent debtors and cardholders, and firebombed the company's offices. The fire was extinguished but the company's offices were destroyed. Rioters, using the National Technical University of Athens
National Technical University of Athens
The National Technical University of Athens , sometimes simply known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest and most prestigious higher education institutions of Greece....
as a base, launched attacks against police, throwing rocks and petrol bombs and erecting roadblocks. In Thessaloniki a group of anarchists
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
briefly occupied a radio station and a theater before disrupting and threw cakes and candy at Mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos and one of his deputies during an open-air charity event near the theater. Later, a group emerged from the same theater and attacked a Nativity scene, throwing away Christ's figure.
On Sunday, 21 December 2008 In the early hours of the morning unidentified hood-wearing assailants threw petrol bombs at the police academy in the west Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
district of Nea Philadelphia six police vehicles were torched, without causing any casualties. The vehicles that were parked outside the building of the police accounting department at Patriarchou Constantinou street, also suffered damage in the attack. At around the same time, rioting and clashes with riot police continued in the area around the National Technical University of Athens and the University of Thessaloniki, with protesters again lobbing petrol bombs at police.
Third week
On Tuesday, 23 December 2008 More than 3,000 chanting protesters marched through Athens. During the demonstration, one police car was damaged. At 05:50 local time, shots were fired at a riot police bus in Athens near the riot police headquarters in ZografouZografou
Zografou is a suburb in the eastern part of Athens, Greece. It is located about 5 km from downtown Athens, 2 km SW of Katechaki Avenue, 4 km from the Hymettus Ring forming part of the Attiki Odos private superhighway network, and 3 km E of Kifissias Avenue...
. None of the 19 officers on board were injured, authorities said, but the attack raised concern that violence against police could escalate. The shots were fired from the grounds of the National Technical University of Athens
National Technical University of Athens
The National Technical University of Athens , sometimes simply known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest and most prestigious higher education institutions of Greece....
’s facilities in Zografou
Zografou
Zografou is a suburb in the eastern part of Athens, Greece. It is located about 5 km from downtown Athens, 2 km SW of Katechaki Avenue, 4 km from the Hymettus Ring forming part of the Attiki Odos private superhighway network, and 3 km E of Kifissias Avenue...
, known as Polytechnioupolis
National Technical University of Athens
The National Technical University of Athens , sometimes simply known as Athens Polytechnic, is among the oldest and most prestigious higher education institutions of Greece....
. One bullet blew out two tires on the bus, while another struck the engine. The police found 7.62 mm caliber
7.62 mm caliber
7.62 mm caliber is a nominal caliber used for a number of different cartridges. Historically, this class of cartridge was commonly known as .30 caliber, the Imperial unit equivalent, and was most commonly used for indicating a class of full power military main battle rifle cartridges...
bullet casings at the scene of the shooting. After ballistic examinations, it was announced that there were at least two shooters who used Kalashnikov
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
type rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
s and that the particular weapons used in the attack had not been used in any other attack, robbery, or other criminal incident in Greece.
On Wednesday, 24 December 2008, hundreds of anarchists
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
marched through Athens streets in a peaceful protest.
On Thursday, 25 December 2008, in central Athens and the suburb of Palaio Faliron there was a string of arson attacks against banks and car dealerships, causing widespread damage but no injuries. There was also an attack against the offices of the Ministry for Development
Minister for Development (Greece)
The Ministry of Development of Greece was created in January 1996 by then Prime Minister Costas Simitis through the merger of three former ministries: the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Technology, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Tourism)...
in the city center. Arsonists also targeted the car of Deputy Environment and Public Works Minister
Minister for the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works (Greece)
The Ministry for the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works of Greece . Following the electoral victory of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement on 4 October 2009, the ministry was split up into a Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Climate Change, while its Public Works sector was...
, Stavros Kaloyiannis, outside his home in the northwestern town of Ioannina
Ioannina
Ioannina , often called Jannena within Greece, is the largest city of Epirus, north-western Greece, with a population of 70,203 . It lies at an elevation of approximately 500 meters above sea level, on the western shore of lake Pamvotis . It is located within the Ioannina municipality, and is the...
, destroying the vehicle. The assailants doused the wheels of the parked car with flammable liquid before setting it alight, according to the fire service.
Aftermath
By Wednesday 31 December 2008 The occupation of Greek universities in AthensAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
had ended and the administrative officials had begun assessing the cost of damage done during the occupation.
On Thursday, 1 January 2009 Arsonists attacked 10 banks and two car dealerships around Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
amidst the New Year celebrations. No injuries or arrests were reported by the police. The attacks caused minor damage. At least five arson attacks were also reported by police in Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
; earlier that day police also briefly clashed with protesters, and fired tear gas at rock throwing demonstrators.
In the early morning of Monday, 5 January 2009 at least two masked gunmen fired over 20 rounds at a riot police unit guarding the Greek Ministry of Culture in central Athens, hitting a 21-year-old officer in the chest and groin. The officer had apparently spotted the gunmen and warned his colleagues shortly before he was hit. An automatic Kalashnikov
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
rifle and an MP5 submachine gun were used in the attack, also a fragmentation grenade
Fragmentation grenade
A fragmentation grenade is an anti-personnel weapon that is designed to disperse shrapnel upon exploding. The body is made of hard plastic or steel. Flechettes, notched wire, ball bearings or the case itself provide the fragments...
was used as a diversion as the perpetrators escaped. The wounded policeman, identified as Diamandis Matzounis, was in a critical, but stable, condition in hospital after six hours of surgery. Authorities said they had cordoned off the region around the site of the attack to collect evidence for forensic examination. At least 72 people were detained during the initial search for suspects. Police said ballistics tests showed the MP5 matched one used in a 30 April 2007, attack on a police station in Athens suburb Nea Ionia
Nea Ionia
Nea Ionia is a northern suburb of Athens, Greece, and a municipality of the Attica region. It has a surface train station . The suburb was named after Ionia, the region in Anatolia from which many Greeks migrated in the 1920s following the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey. It is...
. That attack caused no injuries but was claimed by the far-left Revolutionary Struggle
Revolutionary Struggle
Revolutionary Struggle is a Greek rebel group known for its attacks on Greek government buildings and the American embassy in Athens...
group. Police also said ballistics tests showed that a second weapon used on Monday, a Kalashnikov rifle, was used in the more recent attack on police, on 23 December 2008. On Wednesday 14 January 2009 Revolutionary Struggle sent a statement to the weekly satirical newspaper, To Pontiki. The statement said the group carried out the 23 December shooting attack and the separate 5 January shooting at the police officers. By Monday, 19 January 2009 Diamantis Matzounis The 21-year-old police officer seriously injured in the terrorist attack of 5 January 2009 was removed from intensive care following an improvement in his condition. Doctors said Diamantis Mantzounis had to undergo two operations to staunch a stomach hemorrhage caused by a bullet wound, but he has managed to recuperate.
On Friday, 9 January 2009 a long-planned education protest march took place in Athens. The rally was organized to coincide with the anniversary of the 1991 murder of high school teacher Nikos Temponeras by the secretary of the Patras
Patras
Patras , ) is Greece's third largest urban area and the regional capital of West Greece, located in northern Peloponnese, 215 kilometers west of Athens...
youth organization of the, back then, ruling New Democracy (Greece)
New Democracy (Greece)
New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic...
party, participants said they protest against police repression, corrupt politicians, the education reform and a social system that offers little hope, it was one of two held in the capital but it was the only one that turned violent. The trouble began after the rally by several thousand schoolchildren, teachers and students had almost reached its end, near the entrance to University of Athens where it had started. When hooded youths broke away from the student march and threw stones and flares at riot police, who fired tear gas and flash grenades. The youths then turned on police, hurling rocks and flares. At one point a group of protesters tried to force their way into the rector’s office and to occupy the central offices of the University of Athens. The occupation of the University’s offices was obstructed by groups of students and academics. According to rector Christos Kittas, police officers did not ask for university immunity to be lifted so that they could gain access to the faculty. Clashes continued in the area which was closed to traffic and where hundreds of demonstrators remained for an hour. There were repeated police charges and several arrests were made. Some 60 persons were arrested with several demonstrators severely injured in clashes with police. Between those arrested were fourteen lawyers, who said that they had nothing to do with the protest, also several people sustained minor injuries and one was hospitalized. Afterwards the influential Journalists' Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers
Journalists' Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers
The Journalists' Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers is a Greek trade union for journalists employed in the daily newspapers and broadcast media in news outlets based in Athens.It was founded in 1914 in Athens as the Journalists' Union...
(ESIEA) protested to the Ministry for the Interior and Public Order about "the brutal attacks and beatings" to which reporters and camera crews had been subjected by some riot police units. "There may have been excesses to be condemned, we are looking into the issue, but the police did their job," Minister for the Interior and Public Order Prokopis Pavlopoulos
Prokopis Pavlopoulos
Prokopis K. Pavlopoulos is a Greek lawyer, university professor and politician. In 2004-2009 he was Minister for the Interior .-Academic career:Pavlopoulos studied at and was an...
told Greek television. Later that evening, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the capital’s central police headquarters on Alexandras Avenue, leading to some tense scuffles with officers. But the crowd had dispersed by late night, according to police who did not report any additional problems.
Protests were carried on Thursday, the 15 January, policemen labor unionists also took part in the demonstrations "to condemn the violent phenomena, from wherever they come, and to state categorically that social problems are not solved by repressive measures". Veteran politician Manolis Glezos
Manolis Glezos
Manolis Glezos is a Greek left wing politician and writer, worldwide known especially for his participation in the World War II resistance.- 1939 - 1945 :...
who took part in the protest, attributed police violence to the obedience of police forces to the executive power and not the judiciary.
On Friday, 16 January some of the lawyers arrested on Friday's demonstration in Athens, filed suits against police officers accusing them for breach of duty, attempted bodily harm and unnecessarily exposing of people to tear gas.
On Wednesday, 17 January a demonstration was held in Larissa, where more than three thousand people protested against the anti-terrorism act and requested the withdrawal of the charges and the release of four jailed students ,who were arrested during the demonstrations of December 2008. Larissa was the only city where the act was applied last month when twenty five teenagers were arrested. At the same time protesters of a separate rally also in Larissa destroyed bank cameras and wrote slogans on walls, churches and supermarkets.
Background and causes
Kathimerini
I Kathimerini is a daily morning newspaper published in Athens. It is published in the Greek language, as well as in an abridged English-language edition. The English edition is sold separately in the United States and as a supplement to the International Herald Tribune in Greece and Cyprus. On 2...
, 60% of the respondents considered them to be part of a wider "social uprising". Many people were concerned with corruption scandals, most of which involved mishandling of public money, the spread of poverty, the increasing rate of unemployment amongst young graduates and the slowing economy as the effects of the global economic crisis began to show. The local student community—which formed the main body of protesters—had also been in significant turmoil since 2006, being opposed to a series of proposed laws regarding the reform of the country's education system. Many of the student demonstrations in relation to these laws in early 2007 turned violent and resulted in clashes with the police, though the perpetrators of the incidents of violence and vandalism, then as in December 2008, should not be necessarily identified with the students.
As in many other countries, young people are faced with expensive studies and are especially affected by unemployment. However, in terms of unemployment Greece is comparable with France, Germany, or Portugal; has a lower unemployment than Spain or Slovakia; and has more unemployment than Italy, Bulgaria, or Cyprus. Similarly, young people also represent a declining demographic group, compared to baby boomer
Baby boomer
A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II baby boom and who grew up during the period between 1946 and 1964. The term "baby boomer" is sometimes used in a cultural context. Therefore, it is impossible to achieve broad consensus of a precise definition, even...
s, resulting in a weaker impact of the youth vote
Youth vote
The youth vote is a political term used primarily in the United States to describe 18 to 29-year-olds and their voting habits.The term "Youth Vote" goes back to the 1930s, when low-income rural and urban young people in the United States were first mobilized to vote in blocs by the youth activism...
in political life, though this is also not particular to Greece.
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
Managing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn , often referred to in the media, and by himself, as DSK, is a French economist, lawyer, politician, and member of the French Socialist Party...
warned that there was a risk of social unrest spreading unless the financial sector shared wealth more evenly. Greece had recently proposed to go through with €28 bn of cash injections to its banking system while at the same time leaving medicine suppliers unpaid.
Regarding the possibility that economic inequality
Economic inequality
Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...
has been a factor, Greece has a Gini Index of income inequality of 34.3 (where a lower number represents a more egalitarian society in terms of distribution of wealth
Distribution of wealth
The distribution of wealth is a comparison of the wealth of various members or groups in a society. It differs from the distribution of income in that it looks at the distribution of ownership of the assets in a society, rather than the current income of members of that society.-Definition of...
), comparable with that of France and Ireland; less equitable than Germany, Bulgaria, or Ukraine; and more equitable than Italy, the UK, or Turkey.
Additionally Greece scores a 4.6 on Transparency International
Transparency International
Transparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide...
's Corruption Perception Index which is used to gauge corruption in a state. This makes Greece comparable with Italy, Poland, or Turkey; more corrupt than France, the UK, or Cyprus; and less corrupt than Albania, Bulgaria, or Romania.
Greece also suffers from one of the highest levels of public debt in the EU, with foreign debt valued at 93.9% of projected 2008 GDP and 16% of revenue in 2009 projected to go towards servicing this debt.
First commemoration of the shooting incident
On Saturday, 5 December 2009 a large crowd gathered at the place where Grigoropoulos was shot, ahead of Sunday's scheduled demonstration, with no reported clashes. However, Police had detained 160 people following minor clashes in central Athens. Police, also, made a preemptive raid on an anarchist hangout in KeratsiniKeratsini
Keratsini is a suburb in the western part of Piraeus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Keratsini-Drapetsona, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit.-Geography:...
near Piraeus on Saturday night detaining 22 people, including Italian, Spanish and Albanian citizens. They discovered some 200 empty bottles they believe were going to be used to make Molotov cocktails, two jerry cans of fuel, two hammers, three sledgehammers, three helmets, 13 gas masks and a stun grenade. They also seized a computer. Two of the people arrested were the son and daughter of PASOK MP and deputy parliamentary speaker Grigoris Niotis. “I have total faith in Greek justice. Just as I have faith in my children, who are adults,” said Niotis.
On Sunday, 6 December 2009 on 11.30 pm A memorial gathering, at the cemetery where 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos is buried, took place in the presence of his family and was attended by hundreds of people including the Greek Minister of Education. Later that day, several thousand demonstrators marched in central Athens and other cities across Greece and Europe to commemorate the death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos at about. However the protest in Athens was followed by scenes reminiscent of those that followed Grigoropoulos’s death, as several hundred protesters remained holed up in the grounds of the University of Athens
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in Southeast Europe and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837. Today, it is the second-largest institution of higher learning in Greece,...
and the city’s Law School and used the two institutions as their bases, they clashed from roughly 6 pm and for about three hours with thousands of police who had been deployed in the city center to ensure that the anniversary of the killing of Alexis Grigoropoulos passed as peacefully as possible. Authorities said 134 people were detained for public order offenses in Athens and 80 in the northern city of Thessaloniki, where a similar demonstration also ended in violence, with youths throwing petrol bombs at police and setting fire to cars. At least five protesters and 16 police officers were injured during the clashes. Including one female demonstrator, who was severely injured by a policeman when he struck her with his motorbike. The rector of the University of Athens, Christos Kittas, was hospitalized after protesters stormed into his office. Kittas was struck on the head and was taken to the Ippocrateio Hospital, where doctors placed him in intensive care, saying that he had suffered a heart ischemia. According to the witness of two contributors of the magazine, Occupied London
Occupied London
Voices of Resistance from Occupied London is a free anarchist journal founded in 2007 in the United Kingdom...
, the director leaving the area had no blood on his head, and the story of his heart attack was fabricated as a "pretext for a full-on attack on the academic asylum".
The series of protests and riots continued months later with the May 2010 Greek protests.
Domestic response
On 8 December he declared that he had ordered the finance ministry to offer "quick and full compensation" to Greek people whose buildings have been damaged in the riots.
"The unacceptable and dangerous events cannot and will not be tolerated, the extremist elements who exploited the tragedy...by showing that their only goal was to spread violence. The state will protect its citizens and society...It is the least of the tributes we owe Alexandros. "
President
President of Greece
The President of the Hellenic Republic , colloquially referred to in English as the President of Greece, is the head of state of Greece. The office of the President of the Republic was established after the Greek republic referendum, 1974 and formally by the Constitution of Greece in 1975. The...
Karolos Papoulias
Karolos Papoulias
-Honours:*Knight Grand Cross with Grand Cordon of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic *Knight Grand Cross of the Grand Order of King Tomislav *Knight of the Order of the Elephant- External links :*...
sent condolences in a telegram, while Interior minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos
Prokopis Pavlopoulos
Prokopis K. Pavlopoulos is a Greek lawyer, university professor and politician. In 2004-2009 he was Minister for the Interior .-Academic career:Pavlopoulos studied at and was an...
expressed "deep sorrow". The police, who claimed that an investigation was underway into the "isolated" incident, also apologized.
Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis
Nikitas Kaklamanis
Nikitas M. Kaklamanis is a Greek New Democracy politician and former Mayor of Athens. He is also a former Minister for Health and Social Solidarity. In the Greek local elections of 2010 he lost the position of mayor after being defeated by Giorgos Kaminis.-Medical career:Kaklamanis was born in...
has expressed his condolences for the death of the 15-year-old boy, adding that festive events for Christmas in Syntagma Square
Syntagma Square
Syntagma Square , is located in central Athens, Greece. The Square is named after the Constitution that King Otto was forced to grant the people after a popular and military uprising, on September 3, 1843....
will be suspended until further notice. Moreover, he assured the owners of damaged shops that they will be aided in restoring their damages, adding that he will propose the Municipal Committee be acquitted of municipal duties for 2009.
The Communist Party of Greece
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
(KKE) attributed the killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos to the result of escalating authoritarianism
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
, reinforcement of the suppression
Suppression
The term suppression may refer to:* Oppression, the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner, also an act or instance of oppressing...
mechanisms and their action, the network of reactionary laws and the "Euro-terror laws" created by the governments of ND
New Democracy (Greece)
New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic...
and PASOK
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...
. The KKE has stated that the riots and the destruction is the work of foreign agents acting as provocateurs. The leader of the KKE, Aleka Papariga
Aleka Papariga
Alexandra "Aleka" Papariga is a communist Greek politician who has served the Communist Party of Greece as its General Secretary since 1991. She is the first woman to head a political party in Greece.- Early years :...
, called for organized struggle against the main politics that it will be well guarded against suspicious command centers. Meanwhile, the Coalition of the Radical Left
Coalition of the Radical Left
The Coalition of the Radical Left , commonly known by its Greek abbreviation ΣΥΡΙΖΑ , is a coalition of left political parties in Greece...
(SYRIZA) spoke of a cruel murder. The Panhellenic Socialist Movement
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...
issued an announcement holding the police responsible for the incident and stated that people "must answer the government's policies en masse and peacefully," while the Hellenic Federation of University Teachers' Associations (POSDEP) called a three-day strike, condemning the killing of the teenager.
From Moscow, where he attended Patriarch Alexy II's funeral, Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens
Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens
Ieronymos II is the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece and as such the primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece. He was elected on 7 February 2008.-Early life and career:...
called on everyone to face the crisis and the problems ahead with co-operation and not with destruction. Also in an interview on 13 December, the Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
added that the "youths are not enraged for no reason" and stated his belief that the effects of the global economic crisis coupled with the large unemployment rate are the causes of this violent outburst.
On 10 December, Prime Minister Karamanlis announced 7 governmental measures to aid the large number of Greek businesses that were damaged by the rioters, also aiding businesses that are undamaged. The Prime Minister stated that the commercial world of the country faced the destructive mania and the raw violence of extremist groups. "The government", he said, "will ensure the sentiment of public safety and support all damaged businesses.
The General Federation of Professional Tradesmen and Traders of Greece saluted the measures and agreed with the direction that the measures were headed in.
On 12 December, Vice-Minister of the Interior Panagiotis Chinofotis
Panagiotis Chinofotis
Admiral Panagiotis Chinofotis is a Member of Parliament with the New Democracy party, a former Vice-Minister of the Interior and a former Chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff.Born in Athens, Chinofotis graduated from the Hellenic Naval Academy and was commissioned an...
, as a political leader of the Greek Police, said that he felt that he had to ask for forgiveness for the shooting incident and the resulting death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, since neither the defendant nor the defendant's lawyer
Alexis Kougias
Alexandros "Alexis" Kougias is a Greek lawyer and current president of Panachaiki FC.-References:...
did so.
On 16 December, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis speaking to New Democracy (Greece)
New Democracy (Greece)
New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic...
’s parliamentary group, condemned the killing of the 15-year-old by the policeman, while calling for all parties to isolate rioters. He also acknowledged that "Long-unresolved problems, such as the lack of meritocracy, corruption in everyday life and a sense of social injustice disappoint young people". Karamanlis said income-tax cuts will go ahead. But he warned against high expectations, saying Greece will spend 12 billion euros, about 5 percent of GDP, just to service its debt. "Our top priority is to support those hurt the most ... (but) this debt is a huge burden that reduces the government's flexibility at this critical time".
International response and demonstrations abroad
Argentina: In Argentina 50 students show their protests. On 13 December a small group of students gathered outside the Greek embassy in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
to express their solidarity and to condemn the shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
Australia: Australia warned tourists of possible violent demonstrations. On 13 December a small group of protesters gathered outside the Greek consulate in Melbourne to express their solidarity and to condemn the shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos. The building of the consulate was also defaced with graffiti earlier that week.
Austria: Approximately 1200 demonstrators protested outside the Greek embassy in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
Belgium: Two protests took place, a peaceful demonstrations in front of the Permanent Greek Representation to the European Communities in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
with around 120 demonstrators, 9 were arrested afterward and a violent demonstration which took place in Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
where approximately 70 protesters attacked banks, shops, several undercover police officers and a camera crew, 19 rioters were arrested.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Demonstrations took place in front of Greek embassy in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
by students of University of Sarajevo
University of Sarajevo
The University of Sarajevo is the first university in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was originally established in 1531 as a Madrasah or Islamic Law college, with a modern university being established and expanded on top of that in 1949. Today, with 23 faculties and around 55,000 enrolled students, it...
.
Bulgaria: Protests took place in front of the Greek embassy in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
.
China: China expressed concern about the safety of its nationals living in Greece.
Cyprus: Riots, demonstrations and clashes also spread to Cyprus. The riots began around midday on 8 December 2008 in the capital Nicosia
Nicosia
Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
and the western city of Paphos
Paphos
Paphos , sometimes referred to as Pafos, is a coastal city in the southwest of Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos and New Paphos. The currently inhabited city is New Paphos. It lies on the Mediterranean coast, about west of the...
. In Paphos, student protesters gathered around the city's town hall and the police headquarters where they began verbally abusing the Cypriot police. The protesters also starting throwing rocks at the building, injuring at least one police officer. These violent clashes were met with the arrest of two students. In the city of Larnaca
Larnaca
Larnaca, is the third largest city on the southern coast of Cyprus after Nicosia and Limassol. It has a population of 72,000 and is the island's second largest commercial port and an important tourist resort...
, hundreds of students gathered at the police headquarters where they engaged in demonstrations and "scuffles" in response to the events in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. On 10 December, Cyprus Airways
Cyprus Airways
Cyprus Airways is the national airline of Cyprus, a public limited company with its head offices located in the capital of the island, Nicosia. It operates scheduled services to 41 destinations in Europe, the Middle East and the Gulf. It flies from both airports of the island, Larnaca and Paphos,...
cancelled a number of flights to both mainland Greece and islands, including to Athens, Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
and Heraklion
Heraklion
Heraklion, or Heraclion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete, Greece. It is the 4th largest city in Greece....
, due to the outbreak of strikes by air traffic controllers and other airport workers.
Denmark: 63 people were arrested in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
when their protests in support of the Greek rioters allegedly turned violent.
France: Protesters entered the Greek consulate in Paris, France. The symbolic occupation was peaceful. 3000 demonstrators also gathered outside the Greek embassy in Paris and scuffled with police before partly blocking the Champs-Élysées
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
, the most prestigious avenue in Paris. In Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, a city in the south of the country, demonstrators set cars alight outside the Greek consulate and wrote graffiti about a coming 'insurrection'.
Germany: On the night of 7 December 2008 and during the following week, spontaneous demonstrations of solidarity took place in numerous German cities, both by left-wing groups of Greek university students studying abroad and local leftist activists. In the first week after the incident, the German Indymedia network had reported demonstrations in 26 German cities, with participation ranging from a few dozen to several hundred people, among the biggest being Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
, Leipzig, Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, and Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
. On 8 December 2008, a group of demonstrators occupied the Greek consulate in Berlin: 240 people pushed their way into the lobby of the consulate at Wittenbergplatz
Wittenbergplatz
Wittenbergplatz is a square in the western part of Berlin, Germany, within the district of Schöneberg near the border with Charlottenburg.It was laid out between 1889 and 1892 and named after the storming of the town of Wittenberg on 14 February 1814 by Prussian troops under General Bogislav...
in western Berlin at around 9:40 am local time. One of the demonstrators told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH is a news agency founded in 1949 in Germany. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is available in German, English, Spanish, and Arabic.The DPA...
that the demonstration was in protest against a Greek state that was responsible for the death of the teenager. The occupation ultimately ended peacefully. On 12 December more than 1500 demonstrators protested the death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Berlin, according to the German police. On 20 December German riot police confronted an estimated 950 protesters in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
who were expressing their sympathy for student protesters in Greece by marching under the banner of "Solidarity is a weapon." The German police reported that the protest actions were broken up after they escalated to rioting.
Ireland: Over two dozen people in the capital city, Dublin, picketed the Greek embassy in protest at the shooting and in solidarity with the protests. A second solidarity event was held after the call-out for international solidarity from those partaking in the events in Greece. Activists from the Workers Solidarity Movement, along with members of the Greek community in Ireland and individual activists, marched to the Greek embassy from Stephens Green with banners proclaiming 'RESIST THE POLICE: MURDERERS IN UNIFORM' 'OUR LIVES DO NOT BELONG TO THE STATE' and 'REMEMBER THE DEAD- FIGHT LIKE HELL FOR THE LIVING' The activists marched down a main-road behind these banners, at the height of the Christmas shopping period. The embassy had been attacked at some stage before the demonstration, and its front walls were covered in red paint. Two windows were also broken in the attack. When the rally arrived it was addressed by a Greek anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
living in Ireland.
Italy: Related graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
were found in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
near the Greek consulate. Many activists demonstrated in front of the Greek consulate in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
. (Again one year later on 11 December 2009 during a students demonstration red paint was thrown against military police in front of the Greek consulate in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
) Demonstrations took place also in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and in front of the Hellenic Institute for Byzantine Studies in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. In Rome, demonstrators burned a garbage bin and threw fire crackers and rocks at police cars trying to stop them from reaching the Greek embassy.
Luxembourg: Around thirty protesters marched through Luxembourg's city centre on Saturday 20 December 2008 afternoon to show solidarity with young people in Greece. The group assembled at 15:30 in the Place Guillaume and followed a route through the city centre to the Greek Embassy. Although the group disrupted traffic at times, the police reported no disturbances. the group dispersed around 6 pm.
Portugal: Some demonstrations were held in the city of Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
and Amadora
Amadora
Amadora is a city and a municipality in Portugal, in the northwest of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The city and municipality population is 175,872 in eleven freguesias . With an area of 23.77 km², it is the most densely populated municipality of Portugal...
, on the 20 December, the international day of solidarity with Greece.
Republic of Macedonia: Around 20 activists gathered in front of the Greek embassy in a peaceful protest in support of the Greek demonstrators. Protests were taken in front of the Greek Embassy in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
on 14 December and at the main square of Skopje on 18 December.
Romania: Around 20 people protested in front of the Greek Consulate in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
. Three were detained. The protest included a die-in
Die-in
A die-in is a form of protest where participants simulate being dead.- Overview :In the simplest form of a die-in, protesters simply lie down on the ground and pretend to be dead, sometimes covering themselves with signs or banners...
.
Russia: The Greek embassy in Moscow was targeted by firebombers. As a result the Russian police increased security measures around the embassy. On 13 December about 30 activists of "Left Front" participated in a demonstration of solidarity. Approximately 15 people were arrested.
Spain: In Spain, 11 demonstrators were arrested and several policemen injured in clashes in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. Attacks on a police station and a bank by Spanish youths in Madrid and Barcelona also fueled concern about copy-cat protests. In Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, a relatively small concentration of people in front of a police station was announced for 10 December, in the evening, since the day before, turning into a spontaneous demonstration of over 100 people through the streets. Slogans were chanted denouncing the repressive role of the police and State, labelled as "assassin", "violent", "repressor" and "terrorist", as well as for solidarity with Alexandros Grigoropoulos and Greek riots.
Sweden: In Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, approximately 50 demonstrators protested the killing of Alexandros Grigoropoulos outside the Greek embassy.
Switzerland: In Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, approximately 120 demonstrators protested the killing of Alexandros Grigoropoulos and police violence and expressed their support to the demonstrators in Greece.
Netherlands: In The Hague, Amsterdam, Nijmegen, and Leiden solidarity demonstrations took place. Approximately 200 demonstrators took part in each of these largely peaceful demonstrations.
Turkey: A dozen left-wing demonstrators daubed red paint on the Greek consulate in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. Also a large demonstration was organised on 11 December by the EMEP
Labour Party (Turkey)
Labour Party is a political party in Turkey. Its chairman is Selma Gurkan. The party was founded as Emek Partisi in 1996. Due to its ban by the Constitutional Court, it was refounded with the name Emeğin Partisi , the same year...
. Anarchists attacked to the Greek consulate building with red paint and broke into the building.
United Kingdom: Britain warned tourists of possibly violent demonstrations. On 8 December 2008 in London, up to a hundred protesters clashed with police after trying to storm the Greek embassy in London. A group of anarchist demonstrators tore down the Greek flag from the building in Holland Park
Holland Park
Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London, England.Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants...
and set it on fire. The police have been called to deal with "about 30" young protesters that seem to be mostly students. Currently, the embassy is again working normally, and the situation is calm. Two protests were held in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, on 8 and 10 December, both involving protest marches up to Castle Street.
United States: On 10 December, the Greek consulate in New York was defaced with black graffiti, and a rock was thrown at one of the windows. On 11 December, 50 people in Olympia
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
, the capital of the state of Washington, marched in solidarity with the Greek revolt. Bank windows were smashed, resulting in one arrest. On 17 December, students at The New School
The New School
The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...
in New York City occupied a university building, demanding the resignation of several members of the administration and greater power in university administration, both in solidarity with the Greek students and in protest of the current economy
Late 2000s recession
The late-2000s recession, sometimes referred to as the Great Recession or Lesser Depression or Long Recession, is a severe ongoing global economic problem that began in December 2007 and took a particularly sharp downward turn in September 2008. The Great Recession has affected the entire world...
. The students stated that they were inspired by and stood in solidarity with the civil unrest in Greece. In San Francisco, a protest ended in five arrests after protesters attacked businesses at Westfield Mall. In St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Missouri six people were arrested at a protest that blocked traffic. In Boston, Massachusetts, there was a solidarity demonstration outside the Greek consulate. In Providence, Rhode Island, about thirty people marched through the streets in a funeral procession in solidarity with the uprising in Greece as well as against the war in Gaza.
Criticism of the Government
On 10 December the Communist Party of GreeceCommunist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
's Central Committee released a written statement where they said that "an effort is being made by the bourgeoisie state, the ND
New Democracy (Greece)
New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic...
government to utilise the blind violence of the hooded people, which we are witnessing mainly through the television channels, to check the swelling wave of discontent and popular intervention that is developing."
On 12 December, PASOK
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...
leader George Papandreou speaking before his party's political council members blamed the ruling New Democracy
New Democracy (Greece)
New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic...
government for the recent violent street protests in Athens and other parts of the country. He held the government solely responsible for everything taking place in the country, stated that "the government itself is the problem" and called for early elections so that, the Greek people will be able to provide a clear mandate.
On the same day, MP Adonis Georgiades
Adonis Georgiades
Adonis Georgiadis or Spyridon -Adonis Georgiadis, as his full name is , is a Greek right-wing politician, historian, publisher, and author. He served as the spokesman for the right-wing/nationalist Popular Orthodox Rally political party until August 2007...
of the Popular Orthodox Rally
Popular Orthodox Rally
The Popular Orthodox Rally or The People's Orthodox Rally , often abbreviated to ΛΑ.Ο.Σ as a pun on the Greek word for people, is a Greek party. According to its political program LA.O.S...
accused the political leadership of the Greek police for giving orders to the riot police not to intervene effectively to stop the riots at their initial stage. Also Popular Orthodox Rally
Popular Orthodox Rally
The Popular Orthodox Rally or The People's Orthodox Rally , often abbreviated to ΛΑ.Ο.Σ as a pun on the Greek word for people, is a Greek party. According to its political program LA.O.S...
proposed a project that anyone hooded should be arrested , to stop university asylum , and forbid the protests , in order to stop the riots.
In a meeting with police labor unionists, Alekos Alavanos
Alekos Alavanos
Alekos Alavanos is a Greek politician, member of the Hellenic Parliament, former member of the European Parliament. From 2004 until 2008 he was president of the Coalition of the Left of Movements and Ecology, commonly known as Synaspismos...
the parliamentary leader of the Coalition of the Radical Left
Coalition of the Radical Left
The Coalition of the Radical Left , commonly known by its Greek abbreviation ΣΥΡΙΖΑ , is a coalition of left political parties in Greece...
criticised the government for using the riot police as their own "army", he also, asked for an inter-party committee to examine the responsibilities and rights of the Greek police, whereas Alexis Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras is a Greek left wing politician, member of the Hellenic parliament, president of the Synaspismos political party and head of SYRIZA parliamentary group.-Early life and career:Tsipras was born July 28, 1974, in Athens....
, current president of the Coalition of the Radical Left, declared that the situation is indeed very grim and that the Greek government needs to find solutions for the actual causes of this "new social phenomenon".
Criticism of the Coalition of the Radical Left
Aleka PaparigaAleka Papariga
Alexandra "Aleka" Papariga is a communist Greek politician who has served the Communist Party of Greece as its General Secretary since 1991. She is the first woman to head a political party in Greece.- Early years :...
, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Greece
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
, called the leadership of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) to "stop patting the hooded rioters on the back". Georgios Karatzaferis
Georgios Karatzaferis
Georgios Karatzaferis is a Greek politician, a member of the Hellenic Parliament and the president of the Popular Orthodox Rally. Previously, Karatzaferis was a member of parliament of the liberal-conservative New Democracy party, from which he was expelled in 2000...
, president of the Popular Orthodox Rally, also stated that "there are some political powers that are serious, and some that pat them on the back...". Alexis Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras is a Greek left wing politician, member of the Hellenic parliament, president of the Synaspismos political party and head of SYRIZA parliamentary group.-Early life and career:Tsipras was born July 28, 1974, in Athens....
, SYRIZA president, replied "we don't pat them on the back, and we don't take the role of the state's prosecutor either". He attacked the Communist Party
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
, describing it as a conservative power that is disturbed when the youth spontaneously storm the streets. He also stated that the young people of the country have reached a deadlock, and this deadlock and their problems force them to the streets. Nikos Konstantopoulos
Nikos Konstantopoulos
Nikos Konstantopoulos is a Greek politician, member of the Hellenic Parliament and former president of the left-wing Synaspismos.Born in 1942 in the village of Krestena, near Olympia, Konstantopoulos studied law in the University of Athens...
, former SYRIZA chairman, spoke to a local radio station and criticised the present party leadership for not condemning the riots directly.
On Thursday 11th, Georgios Karatzaferis referred to a press release of the newspaper "Adesmeutos Typos" which, he claimed, had an MP of the Coalition supporting "the terrorism" instead of condemning the riots. Alekos Alavanos replied that, "Some have lost sense of what they say and what antidemocratic consequences their sayings might bring". On Friday 12th, in the parliament, MPs of both ruling New Democracy and the PASOK opposition criticised SYRIZA for not condemning the riots, and for Alexis Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras is a Greek left wing politician, member of the Hellenic parliament, president of the Synaspismos political party and head of SYRIZA parliamentary group.-Early life and career:Tsipras was born July 28, 1974, in Athens....
's statement that "the struggle must be moved in the schools".
On Sunday 15th, Alexis Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras is a Greek left wing politician, member of the Hellenic parliament, president of the Synaspismos political party and head of SYRIZA parliamentary group.-Early life and career:Tsipras was born July 28, 1974, in Athens....
current president of SYRIZA called an unscheduled press conference where he dismissed criticism and decried what he called "slanderous" statements against the recent protests, he also added that "Synaspismos
Coalition of the Radical Left
The Coalition of the Radical Left , commonly known by its Greek abbreviation ΣΥΡΙΖΑ , is a coalition of left political parties in Greece...
and its affiliated Parliamentary group, SYRIZA, are in an ideological conflict with the hooded gangs, because violence brings forth violence and leads to an impasse".
Criticism of the media
On 9 December, a photographer working for the newspaper Eleftheros TyposEleftheros Typos
Eleftheros Typos was a daily newspaper published in Athens, founded in 1983 by the Lilian Voudouri press foundation. Eminent in liberal and conservative circles, it vied for the top sales spot in the eighties, but today trails its left-of-center competitors by a margin, though still retaining its...
, who had taken on 7 December some snap-shots of a policeman targeting to protesters with his gun, was fired, as the paper's editor claimed he was responsible for the leakage of the photos in the Internet. The photographer claimed the photos were not any more in his possession in the time of the leak, said that the editor was unwilling to publish them and denounced his sack as an attempt of political censorship, while left-wing newspapers and websites noted the editor's pro-government stance during the riots. The same newspaper received harsh criticism for misquoting Isocrates
Isocrates
Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
in its front page of 10 December.
On 13 December, the Greek National Council of Radio and Television informed all radio and television stations throughout the country that they should be careful in how they broadcast the news about the riots. The Council informed the stations mainly of the necessity of not showing scenes of extreme violence (in ways that might be interpreted as encouraging extreme anti-social behavior), to avoid acting as if they were judicial authorities, and to avoid showing in public documents and other elements that might be the subject of legal proceedings. The Council noted that "there is danger of breaking the broadcasting laws by the way of presenting the latest events."
Financial consequences for the Greek economy
After the first days of demonstrations and the presentation of the 2009 state budget, that predicted solid economic growth in spite of the 2008 economic crisis, the spreadCredit spread (bond)
The financial term, credit spread is the yield spread, or difference in yield between different securities, due to different credit quality. The credit spread reflects the additional net yield an investor can earn from a security with more credit risk relative to one with less credit risk...
of the Greek 10 year Government bonds had, by 12 December 2008, widened to 230 basis points against the corresponding German Government bonds (Bundesanleihen), a level that represents the highest level for the past nine years and the highest since the country entered the eurozone
Eurozone
The eurozone , officially called the euro area, is an economic and monetary union of seventeen European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender...
. This had an immediate effect on the cost of financing for Greece’s government; these costs rose considerably as a higher yield
Yield (finance)
In finance, the term yield describes the amount in cash that returns to the owners of a security. Normally it does not include the price variations, at the difference of the total return...
had to be paid on any bonds it sold. In addition, and given the credit crisis prevalent at the time, this curtailed its ability to issue bonds
Bond (finance)
In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...
at all since investors were more risk averse than normal.
Additionally, on Wednesday, 17 December 2008, the credit rating agency
Credit rating agency
A Credit rating agency is a company that assigns credit ratings for issuers of certain types of debt obligations as well as the debt instruments themselves...
Moody’s declared it would put Greece’s credit rating
Credit rating
A credit rating evaluates the credit worthiness of an issuer of specific types of debt, specifically, debt issued by a business enterprise such as a corporation or a government. It is an evaluation made by a credit rating agency of the debt issuers likelihood of default. Credit ratings are...
, already the lowest in the Eurozone at A1, off positive outlook if political and economic instability continued.
See also
- 1981 England riots1981 England riotsIn 1981, the United Kingdom suffered serious riots across many major cities in England. They were perceived as race riots between communities, in all cases the main motives for the riots were related to racial tension and inner-city deprivation. The riots were caused by a distrust of the police...
- Los Angeles riots of 1992
- December 2001 riots in Argentina
- 2005 civil unrest in France2005 civil unrest in FranceThe 2005 civil unrest in France of October and November was a series of riots by mostly Muslim North African youths in Paris and other French cities, involving mainly the burning of cars and public buildings at night starting on 27 October 2005 in Clichy-sous-Bois...
- 2006 youth protests in France
- 2006 Dublin riots2006 Dublin riotsThe 2006 Dublin riots were a series of riots which occurred in Dublin on 25 February 2006, precipitated by a proposed controversial march down O'Connell Street of a unionist demonstration. The disturbances began when members of An Garda Síochána attempted to disperse a group of...
- 2010–2011 Greek protests2010–2011 Greek protestsThe 2010–2011 Greek protests are an ongoing series of demonstrations and general strikes taking place across Greece. The protests, which began on 5 May 2010, were sparked by plans to cut public spending and raise taxes as austerity measures in exchange for a bail-out, aimed at solving the...
External links
- Boston Globe "The Big Picture" blog's 2008 Greek riots photo reportage
- On the Greek riots voices from occupied london blog
- Chronology of the riots (Greek language)
- We Are An Image From the Future: The Greek Revolt of December 2008, edited by Void Network
- Matthew Asprey's 2011 novella Sonny's Guerrillas (set during the 2008 Athens riots).