6th of December 2009, one year has passed since the murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos which had started serious riots in Athens and in the rest of the Greek cities. According to the Press, it all started when two policemen clashed with a small teenage group of anti-authoritarian beliefs in a suburb of Athens called Exarhia which is home of people with alternative lifestyle beliefs. The policemen started to threaten the group swearing and after exchange of verbal abuse the teenagers expressed their reaction to the aggressiveness of the authority throwing stones to them. One of the policemen Epaminondas Korkoneas decided to fire with his gun and killed Alexandros. Witnesses say (people from the area who were watching the event from their balconies) no one of the policemen was harmed and the group only wanted to make them go away as they were very provocative. The two policemen were suspended and arrested.
Rumors say that Epaminondas was a member of the neo nazi party “chrisi avgi” (Golden Sunrise), while others say that his family background was very right- wing, conservative. None of these allegations has been clarified and we believe that it would be better not to judged the man for his political beliefs but for his actions.
The media reported that anarchists smashed and robbed stores, burnt cars and caused destructions in the big cities. However there were about 200.000 protesters in the whole country while 20.000 were anti-authoritarians. Most of the anarchists clashed with the riot police without causing any damage to private properties. In a video is shown that people who were stealing from the smashed stores did not carry masks, they looked like ordinary citizens as the CCTV has recorded. In the video below it is possible to identify something very shocking; that the policemen used iron batons and caused damages to private property, something that the news tried to overshadow.
The video below is available only in Greek language but it is possible to see some policeman smashing down shops.
If we go back to the political history of Greece, we can see a series of police brutality against immigrants, activists and other citizens. With the right-wing government of ?New Democracy? the situation only got worse.
Victims from police violence:
In November 1980, during a protest of the National Bank Holiday 17th of November Stamatina Kanelopoulou was killed by the riot police, while Iakovos Kumis was found with his scull shattered by a police glob and died.
In August 1985 the policeman Nick Stathopoulos killed the American Catherine John Bull 22 years old because she did not allow the policeman to check her car
In November 1985 a few hours after another protest for the anniversary of the 17th of November the 15-year-old Michail Kaltezas was shot dead by a policeman in Melissa, Athens.
In March 1990 a policeman kills a 15-year-old student Dimitris Kikeris because he tried to steal a video tape from a local video club
In April 1992 the policeman Elias Stamatopoulos killed the waiter Giannis Tzizis.
In January 1994 the policeman Evagelos Lagogianis killed the 28 years old musician Thodoris Giakas after he shot 4 times because he refused to stop for ID check.
In January 1996 in an anti-immigrant attempt where the authorities had to find illegal immigrants to deport them, a policeman Dionisis Karakaidos killed an Albanian.
In June 1996 the policeman Ath. Matos killed the 20-year-old immigrant Fadil Nabuzi because he tried to steal a watermelon
In November 1996 in an attempt to identify a prison escapee another policeman Dimitris Trimis killed a gypsy-man in front of the eyes of his children.
In August 1998 in Pirea (Athens) Dimitris Tsagratos (policeman) killed the 26 years old Elias Meksis because he did not stop for a car check.
In October 1998 in Thessaloniki city center the policeman Kiriakos Vantulis killed the 17-year-old student visitor from Serbia Mark Bulatovitch
At February 2000 in Lutsa the policeman Thodoris Halulakos shot a car
In March 2000 in Thessaloniki Nick Leonidas a Greek from the x-USSR was shot dead by the policeman Giorgos Abatzidis because he did not stop for a car check
In October 2001 a gypsy man shot dead by the policeman Tilianidis because he did not stop for a car check
In November 2001 in American Square (Athens) policeman Giannis Rizopoulos shot the 20 years old Albanian immigrant Sentag Selinku
In December 2003 Iraklis Maragagis was shot dead (in the head) by police officers because he did not stop for a car check
In 2008 Mohamed Asraf, a refugee, was shot dead by a policeman. The police denied the fact.
In May 2009 the refugee Arivan Osman Abdulah died in hospital after he was beaten up and tortured by police officers in Igumenitsa port. Witnesses say the policeman was hitting his head on the concrete.
At September 2008 the Afgan immigrant Mohamed Karman Atif died after he was tortured by a policeman.
Sources: Galanis blog, tvxs.gr, Wikipedia, Indymedia Athens.
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December 14th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
I remember the riots that followed and I am happy that Greece exploded and fought back :))))
November 6th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
agree,you people must wake up.i can not understand why you do not see things that happen in front of you eyes
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
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November 3rd, 2009 at 2:55 pm
yeah, the so called protesters are scared to lose their “message”, but the fail miserably when they won’t even protect their rights from being forcefully taken from them. Pittsburgh G20 is a prime example.
October 16th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Don’t be ashamed do something! this Shit is happening in the United States as well.This is a common tactic with police. So sad.
September 7th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
ok Mr. Lazopoulos was traveling with his boat around the island and he feed us crap..THIS IS ANARCHY AND NOT A PROTEST!!!!!!!!
August 30th, 2009 at 6:54 am
We also need a lot of organised and determined solidarity such as in Greece to reveal the same thing in France! Besides, which French TV program would dare to show such a program that would threaten the government’s credibility?