Thread: Austerity Suicides: Debt the Ripper stalks Europe - Video

Austerity Suicides: Debt the Ripper stalks Europe


Struggling with money has proven to be an unbearable burden for a Greek pensioner - who has shot himself dead in a square in central Athens. It's just one of a string of suicides across the EU, caused by financial desperation and the continuing, harsh austerity measures. RT's Tesa Arcilla reports from Brussels.

The 77-year-old Greek man committed suicide in central Athens by the nation’s parliament, shooting himself with a handgun in apparent financial desperation.

Eyewitness reports say that the man shouted “So I won’t leave debts for my children” before turning the gun on himself. Others claimed he said nothing.

The incident occurred around 9 am (local time), just outside a metro station, when the square was filled with people and commuters. The man took his life behind a big tree, which concealed him from most eyes. Greek media identify the man as Dimitris Christoulas. This is yet to be confirmed by the police.

The pensioner appears to have been a retired pharmacist who owned a drugstore in Athens, which he sold in 1994, Costas Lourantos, the head of the Attica Pharmacist’s Association told Skai radio.

A suicide note has been been found on the old man, saying “The Tsolakoglou government has annihilated all traces for my survival. And since I cannot find justice, I cannot find another means to react besides putting a decent end [to my life], before I start searching the garbage for food and become a burden for my child."

Georgios Tsolakoglou headed the Greek collaborationist government during the German occupation of Greece in the Second World War.

The note has been widely regarded as drawing a parallel between Lucas Papademos’ current collaborationist government and Tsolakoglou’s regime because of the economic crisis in the country. In his note, the deceased forecasts the Greek government a fate similar to Benito Mussolini’s if they continue robbing young people of their future. The Italian dictator’s body hung in Milan for public view several days after his execution in April 1945.

“Young people without a future will one day take up arms and hang the traitors upside down in Syntagma Square, as the Italians did to Mussolini in 1945,” the message reportedly reads.

“Syntgama” is a Greek word for “constitution”. Syntagma Square, where the elderly man committed suicide, lies in front of the Greek Parliament.

In the evening, hundreds of protesters made their way across the street from the square to outside Parliament and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, chanting: "This was not a suicide, it was a state-perpetrated murder" and "Blood flows and seeks revenge.”

Video at link below:
A woman pushes a riot policeman's shield during a protest in front of the Greek parliament near Athen's Syntagma square on April 5, 2012, in reaction to the suicide of an elderly debt-ridden Greek man (AFP Photo / Louisa Gouliamaki)

Second day of clashes in Athens after pensioner’s suicide (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Demonstrators have clashed with police in the Greek capital for a second day following the suicide of an elderly man, an act which has come to symbolize the desperation felt by the Greek people in the face of the prevailing conditions of austerity.

*Several dozen youths smashed paving stones with hammers in order to throw them at riot police in Syntagma Square in central Athens on Thursday. The protesters chanted “Killer! Killers!” as police used tear-gas and flash grenades against the crowd.

Earlier the same day some 1,000 protesters had gathered at the place where 77-year-old Dimitris Christoulas shot himself in the head to lay flowers, candles and messages. Teachers, students, members of leftist groups and the "indignants", who held daily sit-ins for months last year, attended the demonstration near the improvised shrine. A peaceful demonstration also took place in the city of Thessaloniki.

On Wednesday evening, following the pensioner’s suicide, hundreds of protesters rallied in central Athens chanting: "This was not a suicide, it was a state-perpetrated murder" and "Blood flows and seeks revenge.” A couple of scuffles broke out between the protesters and riot police, who used pepper-spray to repel youths throwing bottles of water at them.

The retired pharmacist, who committed suicide just outside the parliament building, said in his suicide note that he refused “to search garbage for food” and become “a burden” on his child. He has been described as a martyr as his death symbolizes the painful effect of over two years of the harsh austerity measures imposed on debt-stricken Greece to secure bailouts from international lenders.

Second day of clashes in Athens after pensioner