“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.”
Usually they riot, at least in Athens, on Tuesdays. It goes back to the days of the Colonels’ junta. Its something that happens in Greece. Students, with assorted anarchists and communists, go on a rampage smashing windows and firebombing cars. The media seems to be making a big deal out of this one, in part I think for the American public/media who have no understanding at all of anything in the Balkans but never miss an opportunity to spout off about how those folks should start acting like Americans.
Here’s an observation for all. In Greece, people are really free, free to say what they want, free to, for all intents and purposes, give the finger to authority and get away with it and they do it every day. The trade off is stuff like this but as a group, they’d never want to live in the sort of police and order enamored state we here in America live in. We’ve made our choice, they’ve made theirs.
I was in Athens in 2000, right around the elections. As a matter of fact, some political rally was actually going on at the hotel we were staying in. It was very passionate, but not the least bit violent, which given what you just said, is surprising.
I do recall being in Syntagma square where there was this big videoscreen set up for one of the candidates. We were on the corner waiting to cross the street when out of nowhere, this older man next to us screams really loud at the videoscreen, "F**king Crook! Criminals! All of You!", accompanied by various insulting hand signs. Surprised the hell out of us. He looked like somebody's grandfather. After this guy's short tirade at the videoscreen, he just kept walking & on with the rest of his life. I guess it was just a public release of frustration which no one seemed to notice except us.