Riots sweep Greece after police shoot boy dead

Maybe, I don’t know anything about Greece.

I know very little, but Greek immigrants are hard working and seem to have very a strong sense of responsibility, property rights and respect for law.

Well, I do like their food! ;)
I hope they get things under control. It’s one of the places I would love to visit one day.

According to the online Greek newspapers, the original troublemakers were “anti-establishment youths” and those involved in the rioting were leftists and anarchists.

There are riots in Greece basically once a month or so. Last year a guy got killed at a riot after a Women’s volleyball match. Rioting is just part of their culture for whatever reason.

outside the National Technical University of Athens

ATHENS, Greece – Hundreds of youths angered by the fatal police shooting of a teenager rampaged through Greece's two largest cities for a second day Sunday in some of the worst rioting the country has seen in years.

Gangs smashed stores, torched cars and erected burning barricades in the streets of Athens and Thessaloniki. Riot police clashed with groups of mostly self-styled anarchists throwing Molotov cocktails, rocks and bottles. Clouds of tear gas hung in the air, sending passers-by scurrying for cover.

Rioting in several cities, including Hania in Crete and cities in northern Greece, began within hours of the death Saturday night of a 15-year-old shot by police in Exarchia. The downtown Athens district of bars, music clubs and restaurants is seen as the anarchists' home base.

Soon stores, banks and cars were ablaze.

The rioting was some of the most severe Greece has seen in years. The last time a teenager was killed in a police shooting, during a demonstration in 1985, it sparked weeks of rioting. In 1999, a visit to Greece by then US President Bill Clinton sparked violent demonstrations in Athens that left stores smashed and burned.

The two officers involved in Saturday's shooting have been arrested and charged, one with premeditated manslaughter and the illegal use of a weapon, and the other as an accomplice. They are to appear before a court Wednesday. They and the Exarchia precinct police chief have been suspended.

Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, whose offer to resign was rejected Sunday, has promised a thorough investigation.

"It is inconceivable for there not to be punishment when a person loses their life, particularly when it is a child," he said. "The taking of life is something that is not excusable in a democracy."

Police said the two officers involved claimed they were attacked by a group of youths and, when they confronted the youths, one fired three shots and the other threw a stun grenade.

Violence broke out again Sunday afternoon in Athens and Thessaloniki during demonstrations to protest the shooting. "Cops, pigs, murderers," protesters chanted.

Police said 24 policemen were injured in Athens in overnight riots that started Saturday, and another 13 on Sunday, while seven people were arrested and another 15 were detained.

As night fell, groups of youths, some masked and others wearing motorcycle helmets, set trash cans alight and overturned cars to erect burning barricades on streets around the Athens Polytechnic -- which, like all universities, is protected by law from police intrusion. Some could be seen walking on the roof of the Polytechnic, taunting police.

Violence in the capital began to die down late Sunday, after several hours of running battles between police and rioters. In Thessaloniki, a large fire could be seen burning at the city's university.

A blurry video shot by a bystander that purportedly shows the shooting Saturday has been aired on Greek television and posted on the Internet. Two sounds that could be gunshots can be heard, but the image is too blurry and distant to show the events clearly.

Greece has seen frequent and sometimes violent demonstrations recently against the conservative government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. The opposition Socialists are now consistently ahead in opinion polls.

Dozens of stores in central Athens went up in flames or saw their storefronts smashed. At least two buildings were destroyed by fire, as was a Ford car dealership. Streets were littered with chunks of paving stones and rocks thrown at riot police, as well as shattered glass from storefronts and banks.

"I understand the anger and the right to demonstrate it," Pavlopoulos said Sunday night. "What is inconceivable is the raw violence that undermines social peace and turns against the property of innocent people."

Violence often breaks out between riot police and anarchists during demonstrations in Greece. Anarchist groups are also blamed for late-night firebombings of targets such as banks and diplomatic vehicles.

http://english.sina.com/world/p/2008/1207/203182.html

This is typical of the left to create an issue where none should exist. There are mixed reports this "kid" was provoking the police. There is also reports of the kid about to throw a molitov cocktail. This is the left we are talking about, they do not need a reason just an excuse.

This is what we are in for with the current administration. Just look at the sit in at the window factory after bank of america pulled the rolling credit line.

The opposition Socialists are now consistently ahead in opinion polls.

The reason for the season.

Good idea! Go ahead and elect socialists. That'll fix it.

20 years of socialism is what demolished Greece’s ecconomic prospects. Once more free market ideals took hold, that is when the Greek ecconomy flourished.

The left learned their lesson from two years ago. Burn the country and you gain political advantage.

This is like the current market crisis. Panic the peons and they will vote you into office.

One thing is to hold a protest march, but another thing is to have Molotov cocktails on hand while doing so. No doubt these students had rioting in mind all along, with the Greek left enabling them.

While the teenager’s death is tragic enough, it is equally tragic how unprincipled people exploited it to further their violent agendas.

Those look like some pretty old "youths."

-PJ

Greece is burning.

Every picture tells a story.

Other countries need to take the advice of the Korean shop owners in LA and defend their property with deadly force.

It may depend on the gun laws in those other countries, Greece in this case.

AGAIN,

remember these are the same people who burned 1/3 of the agricultural land, caused 70 people to be known dead, destroyed homes ALL for political gain before an election.

seems now we have to look to see what crisis the left will cause before every election.

While the teenager’s death is tragic enough, it is equally tragic how unprincipled people exploited it to further their violent agendas.

I wonder why the kid was shot? Was he engaged in an attack on the police? Was he armed? Why isn't this being talked about?

Oh, FAR be it from me to imply he deserved it, just wondering what are the circumstances?

Some innocent youth, just out walking, no doubt.

(/sarc)

"..and why the Police were arrested for shooting a criminal before an complete investigation."

And there's another thing:

If the police officers were trained, why aren't they being defended, instead of being arrested?

This whole thing stinks to high heaven. Sure glad I'm not Greek LEO. Being thrown to the wolves for doing their job, sounds like to me.

"..opportunity for a law and order candidate.."

You're assumin' a whole lot about the Greek electorate.

What if the majority are flaming (pun intended, this time) socialists?

Any police officer worth his salt takes no pleasure in killing another human being, even when it is legally justified. Setting passions aside, the circumstances have to be thoroughly investigated lest the anarchists and leftists succeed in making a martyr out of a teenage hoodlum.

"I know very little, but Greek immigrants are hard working and seem to have very a strong sense of responsibility, property rights and respect for law."

Sure, the ones that come here, but why did they leave Greece, and what kind of people are left behind to run (RUIN) the country?