Students Clash With Greek Police
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Some 300 students have battled police in Greece in the latest unrest sparked by the police killing of a 15-year-old boy.
Anarchists throw stones at police from the cover of burning barriers
State TV reports the riot in the northern city of Thessaloniki follows clashes in Athens and other cities.
The disturbances broke out near a police station in the middle of the city and police did not immediately intervene.
Groups of youths who occupy university campuses in Thessaloniki and Athens hurled rocks, petrol bombs and Molotov cocktails at police through the night.
Scores of businesses have been destroyed, cars torched and burning barricades erected.
In retaliation the officers fired tear gas, sending passers-by scurrying for cover.
It is the third day of violence in Greece following the death of a teenage boy shot by police in Exarchia, considered the home base of the anarchists.
The shooting lit a powder keg of resentment among youth, angry at a widening gap between rich and poor.
Alexandros Grigoropoulos
Despite the arrest of two officers over the killing, the Greek Communist Party has announced plans for a mass rally in central Athens.
The socialist PASOK opposition, who have taken a lead in the polls, called for peaceful demonstrations.
With a 24-hour general strike scheduled for Wednesday against pension reforms and the government’s economic policies, many Greeks fear the demonstrations could last for days.
A police statement said one officer fired three shots after their car was attacked by 30 youths in Exarchia.
The officer described firing warning shots, a police official said, but witnesses told TV he took aim at the boy, identified as Alexandros Andreas Grigoropoulos.
It could have been our brother. It could have been our fellow student, it could have been one of us.
Vangelis Spiratos, 13.
Violence spread across the country, including the tourist islands of Crete and Corfu, leaving at least 34 injured. Police detained 20 in Athens.
On the second day of rioting protesters chanting “cops, pigs, murderers” rained petrol bombs down on rows of Athens riot police, while helicopters hovered overhead and tear gas choked the city.
The self-styled anarchist movement partly has its roots in the resistance to Greece’s 1967-74 military dictatorship.
The youths believe in general anti-capitalist and anti-establishment principles, and have long-running animosity toward the police.
admin @ December 8, 2008