Thread: Havoc in Greece as protesters talk of 'social revolution'

Havoc in cities across Greece as protesters talk of 'social revolution'

Published Date: 09 December 2008
By Daniel Flynn and Dina Kyriakidou

THOUSANDS of protesters rampaged through the heart of Athens yesterday, burning and looting shops on a third day of riots sparked by the killing of a teenager by police.

Tear gas filled Syntagma Square outside Greece's parliament as police clashed with left-wing demonstrators, beating some with batons and detaining others.

Anger over the 15-year-old boy's killing has turned to resentment over economic hardshipsADVERTISEMENTand could topple the unpopular conservative government.

"We are experiencing moments of a great social revolution," said Panagiotis Sotiris, 38, an activist among those occupying a university building.

"The protests will last as long as necessary."

Protests were reported in more than ten cities across the nation of 11 million people, including the northern city of Thessaloniki, and on the tourist islands of Crete and Corfu.

Youths appeared to be in control of central Athens, plundering and setting fire to shops, destroying banks and attacking ministries. The city's huge Christmas tree went up in flames.

"We are not counting any more. The incidents cannot be counted," a fire brigade officer said last night.

Firefighters extinguished a fire at one department store but the headquarters of Olympic Airways were still burning and all the city's fire engines were on the streets, he said.

More than 130 shops have been destroyed in the capital, crushing retailers' hopes that Christmas would compensate for Greece's darkening economic outlook. Police have detained more than 35 people and more than 50 are injured.

With a 24-hour general strike due tomorrow, in protest against economic reforms, analysts said Greece's worst riots in decades looked set to continue and could threaten the government, which has a one-seat parliamentary majority.

The socialists already held a strong lead in opinion polls before the riots, riding a wave of discontent at the ruling New Democracy Party's privatisations and pension reforms. Political analysts say an early election could be called next year.

Costas Karamanlis, the prime minister, expressed sorrow for the family of the dead boy, but warned demonstrators to stop.

The government would try to compensate property owners, he said.

As night fell on the Greek capital, thousands marched arm-in-arm through its main streets. Anarchists smashed car windows and chanted "cops, pigs, murderers". Some threw firebombs at police as businesses burned.

The shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a policeman on Saturday has kindled smouldering anger among Greek youths, resentful at a widening gap between rich and poor made worse by the global credit crisis.

Violence at student rallies and firebomb attacks by anarchists are common, especially in Athens' Exarchia district where the boy was shot. But anger at the boy's killing has even reached Greeks overseas, who protested in London and Berlin.

Five men were arrested in London yesterday for public order offences after they took part in a 40-strong protest outside the Greek embassy in Holland Park.

Two police officers have been charged over the shooting – one with murder and the other as an accomplice. A police statement said one officer fired three shots after their car was attacked by 30 youths in Exarchia.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/world/H ... 4773233.jp

The recent riots in France, Spain, and Italy are all immigration related.

Are the Greek riots the exception?

W

December 7, 2008 by BNP News
Filed under National News


The controlled media have excelled themselves once again by simply ignoring the real cause of the violent riots currently sweeping Greece, despite the facts being well-known and distributed via the Press Association newswire.

In their coverage to date, the media have all claimed that ‘youths’ are responsible for the violence in Athens and other parts of Greece and that it started after police shot and killed a ‘youth.’

The Press Association however reported a full day ago that the spark which led to the current unrest was caused by asylum seekers rioting after being told that no more applications were being processed that week.

According to the PA report, “Hundreds of migrants waiting to submit asylum applications rioted in central Athens, setting fire to rubbish bins and attacking passing cars.

“Protesters said the riot began when one man fell into a nearby canal after authorities told the crowd that no more applications could be submitted. Only a small number of applications can be submitted each week.

It was not immediately clear how the man fell into the canal. Police said he was injured and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. They said they were investigating the incident.â€

A few pictures on link below.

Clashes, looting rock Greek cities for 4th night



Dec 9, 6:08 PM (ET)

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS and ELENA BECATOROS

(AP) A protester shouts at riot police in central Athens on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. Athens and other...
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Athens Erupts in Riots - Rioters in Greece react after cops shot teenage boy dead. Read.
www.Newser.com








ATHEN, Greece (AP) - Masked youths and looters marauded through Greek cities for a fourth night Tuesday, in an explosion of rage triggered by the police shooting of a teenager that has unleashed the most violent riots in a quarter century.

The nightly scenes of burning street barricades, looted stores and overturned cars have threatened to topple the country's increasingly unpopular conservative government, which faces mounting calls for Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to resign.

Police fired tear gas at protesters Tuesday following the funeral of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, who was laid to rest in an Athens burial attended by about 6,000 people.

The rioting - which has engulfed cities from Thessaloniki in the north to the holiday island of Corfu and Crete in the south - threatens the 52-year-old Karamanlis, who already faced growing dissatisfaction over financial and social reforms at a time of deep anxiety over growing economic gloom.


(AP) A demonstrator throws a stone at riot police in central Athens Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. Athens and...
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Opposition Socialist leader George Papandreou called for early elections, charging the conservatives were incapable of defending the public from rioters.

"The government cannot handle this crisis and has lost the trust of the Greek people," Papandreou said. "The best thing it can do is resign and let the people find a solution ... We will protect the public."

The call was echoed by protesters, who, though they have not voiced any particular policy goals, say they want Karamanlis out.

"It's very simple - we want the government to fall. This boy's death was the last straw for us," Petros Constantinou, an organizer with the Socialist Workers Party, said in Athens. "This government wants the poor to pay for all the country's problems - never the rich - and they keep those who protest in line using police oppression."

Karamanlis, whose New Democracy party narrowly won re-election a year ago, has ignored the calls.


(AP) A protester sits on the ground in front of riot police in central Athens on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008....
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Greece was torn by years of civil war between communists and right-wing nationalists in the wake of World War II, and was ruled by a military dictatorship from 1967 to 1974.

Though a student uprising succeeded in ending military rule in 1974, it also left a legacy of activism and simmering tensions between the security establishment and a phalanx of deeply entrenched leftist groups that often protest against globalization and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The groups have now evolved into various mainly youth factions that claim to fight trends ranging from globalization to police surveillance cameras. Their impact is usually limited to graffiti and late-night firebomb attacks on targets such as stores and cash machines.

But the latest riots have moved far beyond the small antiestablishment groups to become a siege of Karamanlis' government. Teenagers and university students have joined self-styled anarchists in much of the rioting and destruction.

The fallout from the riots, which has seen police stations nationwide come under attack by rock- and Molotov cocktail-throwing youths, could be far-reaching.


(AP) A protester kicks a tear gas canister to riot police as riots continued for a fourth day in the...
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"This reaction will register as major discontent in the next public opinion polls, which will hobble the government's effectiveness," political analyst Anthony Livanios told The Associated Press. Whenever the government tries to pass reforms, "Greek society will react - while the level of parliamentary opposition will increase."

The government is already facing public discontent over the state of the economy, the poor job prospects of students and a series of financial scandals that have badly rattled public confidence.

Greece is heavily dependent on tourism, which could decline as a result of the global economic crisis.

Karamanlis trails the Socialists in recent opinion polls and would struggle to win a general ballot now. His government clings to a single seat majority in the 300-member Parliament and could be brought down by a single defection, though it is unlikely any deputy would risk his political career to topple a government at a time of civil unrest.

A poll released Tuesday gave the Socialists a 4.8 percent lead over Karamanlis' conservatives. The poll gave no margin of error.


(AP) A protester kicks a tear gas canister as riots continued for a fourth day in the Greek capital,...
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A senior Socialist party official, Christos Protopappas, blamed underlying social inequalities for the violence, saying the government's policies exacerbated the gap between rich and poor.

"If there is no change in policies, I fear that what will happen in six months or one year will be much worse," he said.

Analyst Livanios agreed. "This was an emotional reaction after public opinion was outraged by the unfortunate event of the teenager's killing," he said. "Clearly, during very negative economic conditions people with very low incomes and jobless people who can see no future for themselves became part of this social reaction."

On Tuesday, police fired tear gas to dispel dozens of youths throwing stones and sticks and setting trash cans on fire near the funeral for Grigoropoulos, whose death Saturday sparked the rioting. Dozens of local residents gathered on the streets, shouting at police to stop firing gas in the residential area.

Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis said "the winds of destruction are blowing through our city."

Schools and universities across Greece were closed for the funeral and hundreds of teachers, university lecturers and students rallied in central Athens, where hundreds of teenagers threw rocks and scuffled with officers.

Still, the clashes were less severe than the rioting over the past three nights.

Amnesty International accused Greek police of heavy-handed tactics against protesters, saying police "engaged in punitive violence against peaceful demonstrators" instead of focusing on rioters.
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Associated Press writers Derek Gatopoulos and Menelaos Hadjicostis contributed to this report





http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081209/D94VFMU80.html