Massive riots cripple Greece's main cities

[Richard]

ATHENS, Greece – Greece's interior minister says the massive protest riots in cities across the country are "unacceptable" but insists that police are doing all they can to protect people's lives and property.

Thousands of youths are rampaging through Athens, the northern city of Thessaloniki and several other cities in the third day of riots Monday after police shot and killed a teenager on Saturday.

Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos spoke after the Greek government held an emergency meeting Monday night.

In the center of the Greek capital, hooded and masked protesters are throwing Molotov cocktails at riot police, who are responding with tear gas. Dozens of shops have been burned or smashed and looted.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Gangs of youths smashed their way through central Athens and Thessaloniki on Monday, torching stores and buildings after the fatal police shooting of a teenager sparked Greece's worst rioting in decades.

Dozens of shops, banks and even luxury hotels had their windows smashed and burned in a night of lawlessness as youths fought running battles with riot police. Black smoke rose above the city center, mingling with clouds of tear gas.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose increasingly unpopular government has already faced a growing number of sometimes violent demonstrations in recent months, called an emergency Cabinet meeting Monday night.

In Athens, rioters torched the capital's massive Christmas tree in central Syntagma Square. As the hooded youths moved on, some protesters posed for photos in front of the blaze, and others sang the Greek version of "O Christmas Tree."

The windows of two of Athens' luxury hotels, the Athens Plaza and the Grande Bretagne on Syntagma Square, were smashed. A hotel guard at the Athens Plaza said its guests had been evacuated.

A lone man with a bucket of water struggled to extinguish a fire in the ground floor of the Foreign Ministry, opposite Parliament. Fires were also reported in the building of an airline and a Greek bank, as well as in tens of other stores in most of Athens' major central streets.

Rioters, meanwhile, set up burning barricades across downtown streets.

Scenes of destruction also unfolded in Thessaloniki, where hundreds of masked and hooded youths hurled rocks and molotov cocktails at storefronts and riot police, who responded with tear gas.

The fire departments of both cities rushed to respond to the widespread destruction. In Athens, rioters surrounded one small fire truck as it tried to extinguish a blaze, smashing the truck's windows before setting it alight.

Elsewhere, rioters looted a store selling hunting weapons and swords.

Greek media also reported fires and destruction in the central city of Larissa.

Massive riots first erupted Saturday across the country, from Thessaloniki in the north to the island of Crete in the south, after 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was fatally shot by a police officer in Athens' often volatile Exarchia district.

The circumstances surrounding the shooting are unclear, but the two officers involved have been arrested; one has been charged with murder and the other as an accomplice. A coroner's report shows the boy was shot in the chest.

Schools were to shut Tuesday in mourning, while staff at universities declared a three-day strike.

The Police Officers' Association has apologized to the boy's family, and President Karolos Papoulias sent a telegram to his parents expressing his condolences.

"All the dangerous and unacceptable events that occurred because of the emotions that followed the tragic incident cannot and will not be tolerated," Karamanlis said in a live televised address Monday morning. "The state will protect society."

But his calls for calm went unheeded and the scenes of destruction are likely to further dent the government's popularity.

In an outpouring of rage, high school and university students join self-styled anarchists in throwing everything from fruit and coins to rocks and Molotov cocktails at police and attacked police stations throughout the day.

"Cops! Pigs! Murderers!" protesters screamed at riot police.

Abroad, demonstrators raised banners at the Greek Embassy in London and the black-and-red anarchist flag at the Greek consulate in Berlin.

Separately, about 10,000 protesters from the Communist Party of Greece and another left-wing party marched through the center of Athens.

With the global financial crisis hitting Greek consumers, shop owners worried the violence would hurt consumer confidence.

"It comes at a time when we have been trying so hard to establish a Christmas spirit in the market," said Vassilis Krokidis, head of the Piraeus Traders' Association. "Our challenge remains getting through the economic crisis and saving the jobs of those who work in regular businesses."

One assistant at a china shop watched in fear as rioters attacked her store.

"Nobody seems to care about the employees at the burnt shops, what will their fate be now over the Christmas season?" said the woman, who gave her name only as Eleni.

Although there is little public support for street violence or wanton destruction of property, there is a deep well of tolerance for demonstrations in Greece, where the right to protest is held dear.

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

The self-styled anarchist movement partly traces its roots in the resistance to Greece's 1967-74 military dictatorship. The youths tend to espouse general anti-capitalist and antiestablishment principles, and have long-running animosity toward the police.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081208/ap_o...eece_riots

[Richard]

What are the Greek riots really about?

Sceilg @ 11:31 PM
 
We've been told that the ongoing riots in Greece were prosecuted by anarchists as a reaction to the Greek police's shooting of a 15 year old boy on Saturday.

But is this really what lies behind such an outpouring of civil unrest? Is the official reason for the rioting just a cover to paper over some real problems facing the Greek government? Take a look at the common thread in all of these reports:

Associated Press: Burning barricades stretched across streets in the capital Athens. And as night fell, gangs again torched stores and smashed bank branches in the city center, and clashes broke out in the streets near Parliament.... 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.

Xinhua: Fires were burnt in the center of Athens and hundreds of people were wandering through the streets, some attacking banks, businesses and vehicles.

Reuters: Protesters angry at the boy's shooting late on Saturday clashed with police and rampaged through Athens, destroying banks, shops and torching cars. There was no official estimate of the damage, expected to come to millions of euros.

Torching banks? Clashes near Parliament? Attacking diplomatic vehicles? Yesterday, I heard that ten banks had been attacked, and it seems strange that all of this is happening solely over last Saturday's shooting. Indeed, it is a perfect pretext for the Greek authorities and the media - not to mention their counterparts over here - who fear that their cosy relationship with the international clique of banking criminals may result in them hanging from shiny lamp-posts from Washington to Dublin to Sydney.

The funny thing is that the recent headlines in Greece are similar to those in Ireland:

All of Greece's major Greek lenders will participate in the government's bank support plan aimed at ensuring the continued flow of credit to the economy, the country's finance minister said on Thursday.

"It was confirmed that all large banks will participate in the plan fully," Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis told reporters after a meeting with major bank CEOs and the central banker.

http://theirishbulletin.blogspot.com/200...about.html

[Richard]

Greek-inspired protests spread across Europe

By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer 
Thu Dec 11, 4:54 pm ET
 
MADRID, Spain – The unrest that has gripped Greece is spilling over into the rest of Europe, raising concerns the clashes could be a trigger for opponents of globalization, disaffected youth and others outraged by the continent's economic turmoil and soaring unemployment.

Protesters in Spain, Denmark and Italy smashed shop windows, pelted police with bottles and attacked banks this week, while in France, cars were set ablaze Thursday outside the Greek consulate in Bordeaux, where protesters scrawled graffiti warning about a looming "insurrection."

At least some of the protests were organized over the Internet, showing how quickly the message of discontent can be spread, particularly among tech-savvy youth. One Web site Greek protesters used to update each other on the locations of clashes asserted there have been sympathy protests in nearly 20 countries.

More demonstrations were set for Friday in Italy, France and Germany.

Still, the clashes have been isolated so far, and nothing like the scope of the chaos in Greece, which was triggered by the police killing of a teenager on Saturday and has ballooned into nightly scenes of burning street barricades, looted stores and overturned cars.

Nevertheless, authorities in Europe worry conditions are ripe for the contagion to spread.

As Europe plunges into recession, unemployment is rising, particularly among the young. Even before the crisis, European youths complained about difficulty finding well-paid jobs — even with a college degree — and many said they felt left out as the continent grew in prosperity.

In Greece, demonstrators handed out fliers Thursday listing their demands, which include the reversal of public spending cuts that have brought more layoffs, and said they were hopeful their movement would spread.

"We're encouraging nonviolent action here and abroad," said Konstantinos Sakkas, a 23-year-old protester at the Athens Polytechnic, where many of the demonstrators are based. "What these are abroad are spontaneous expressions of solidarity with what's going on here."

Across the continent, Internet sites and blogs have popped up to spread the call to protest.

Several Greek Web sites offered protesters real-time information on clash sites, where demonstrations were heading and how riot police were deployed around the city. Protest marches were arranged and announced on the sites and via text message on cell phones.

In Spain, an anti-globalization Web site, Nodo50.org, greeted visitors with the headline "State Assassin, Police Executioners" and told them of hastily called rallies Wednesday in Barcelona and Madrid.

"We stand in solidarity" with the Greek protesters, the site said.

Elsewhere in Europe, reports about the clashes in Greece were quickly picked up online by citizen journalists, some of whom posted details of confrontations on Twitter. At the Independent Media Center, photos and video of the demonstrations were uploaded and plans were listed for "upcoming solidarity actions" in London, Edinburgh and Berlin.

One writer on the site london.indymedia.org exhorted people to follow the Greek example and "reclaim the streets. Burn the banks that robbed you ... It is a great opportunity to expand the revolution in all europe."

"What's happening in Greece tends to prove that the extreme left exists, contrary to doubts of some over these past few weeks," French Interior Ministry spokesman Gerard Gachet told The Associated Press.

But, he added, the coming days and weeks would determine whether "there's a danger of contagion of the Greek situation into France."

In cities across Europe, protests flared in solidarity with the demonstrations in Greece.

One rally outside the Greek Embassy in Rome turned violent on Wednesday, damaging police vehicles, overturning a car and setting a trash can on fire. In Denmark, protesters pelted riot police with bottles and paint in downtown Copenhagen; 63 people were detained and later released.

And in Spain, angry youths attacked banks, shops and a police station in Madrid and Barcelona late Wednesday. Some of the protesters chanted "police killers" and other slogans. Eleven people — including a Greek girl — were arrested at the two rallies, which drew a total of about 200 protesters.

Daniel Lostao, president of the state-financed Youth Council, an umbrella organization of Spanish youth groups, said young people in Spain face daunting challenges — soaring unemployment, low salaries and difficulty in leaving the family nest because of expensive housing.

Still, he said he doubted the protests in Spain would grow.

"We do not have the feeling that this is going to spread," Lostao said. "Let's hope I am not wrong."

In France, protesters set fire to two cars and a garbage can filled with flammable material outside the Greek consulate in Bordeaux Thursday and scrawled graffiti threatening more unrest, Greek Consul Michel Corfias said.

Graffiti reading "solidarity with the fires in Greece," was scrawled on the consulate and the word "insurrection" was painted on the doors of neighboring houses.

"The events in Greece are a trigger" for French youth angry by their own lack of economic opportunity, Corfias said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081211/ap_o...ope_unrest

[Richard]

Greek protesters call for more action

ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Greek students have called for daily protests starting Monday, 10 days after the police killing of a 15-year-old boy in Athens sparked demonstrations that have thrown the country into turmoil.

Monday's sit-in is set to take place in front of the country's national police headquarters, with students urging similar demonstrations in front of police precincts across the country.

They have called for roads to be blocked on Tuesday, a demonstration Wednesday outside the courthouse where the police involved in the shooting will be testifying, and a nationwide protest on Thursday.

Authorities are bracing for potential violence following more than a week of riots which have become an outlet for simmering anger about the economy, education and jobs.

The unrest is threatening the government's hold on power, with some opposition groups calling for fresh elections. Stores and international businesses have been attacked, and at least 280 people have been detained by police. Of that total, 176 were arrested, 130 of them over looting.

There was a rash of demonstrations Saturday, the one-week anniversary of the death of Alexis Grigoropolous, including attacks on a police station in the Athens district of Exarchaia and on the environment ministry building by angry protesters with stones and Molotov cocktails.

The main demonstration Saturday was a peaceful candlelit vigil in front of Parliament on Syntagma Square in the capital.

Several thousand people turned out for the demonstration, many of them students but including people of all ages and from all walks of life. Demonstrators held a similar sit-in in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

Some stayed for an all-night sit-in.

There was relative calms in the streets and across the country as Sunday dawned.

The two officers involved in the December 6 shooting were remanded into custody Wednesday pending trial. One is charged with premeditated manslaughter and the other with acting as an accomplice.

Journalist Anthee Carassava contributed to this report.

Find this article at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe...index.html 

[Richard]

Greek youths break into state TV center, take over

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS, Associated Press Writer 
51 mins ago
 
ATHENS, Greece – Protesters forced their way into Greece's state NET television news studio Tuesday and interrupted a news broadcast featuring the prime minister so they could urge viewers to join mass anti-government demonstrations.

For more than a minute, about 10 youths blocked a broadcast showing a speech by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. Instead, they displayed banners reading: "Stop watching, get out onto the streets," and "Free everyone who has been arrested." No one was hurt, and no arrests were reported.

NET chairman Christos Panagopoulos claimed the protesters violently forced their way into the studio. "This goes beyond any limit," he said.

It was the latest twist in 11 days of riots and protests after a policeman shot and killed a 15-year-old boy on Dec. 6. The violent protests have evolved from being just aimed at Greek police to being highly critical of Karamanlis' conservative government.

Karamanlis has rejected mounting demands to resign and call new elections.

Earlier Tuesday, masked youths attacked riot police headquarters in Athens and protesters clashed with police in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

Police said 30 youths threw petrol bombs and stones at the riot police building, causing extensive damage to seven cars and a police bus parked outside.

Students blocked streets in Athens and dozens of teenagers gathered outside the capital's main court complex and a maximum security prison — where some threw stones at police.

Protesters have called for riot officers to be pulled off the streets, for police to be disarmed and for the government to revise its economic, social and education policies.

The protests have brought higher education in Greece to a standstill. Lessons have stopped at more than 100 secondary schools that are under occupation by students, according to the Education Ministry. Scores of university buildings across Greece are also occupied.

After the shooting death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, furious youths smashed and burnt hundreds of shops in Athens' main shopping area, and attacked riot police who responded with massive tear gas.

Dozens of people have been injured in the rioting, while more than 300 people have been arrested. The policeman accused of killing the teenager has been charged with murder and is being held pending trial.

In the northern port of Thessaloniki, riot police fired tear gas Tuesday to disperse 300 youths throwing fruit and stones outside the city's main court complex. The disturbance followed a court decision that found eight police officers guilty of abusing a student following riots two years ago.

The policemen received suspended sentences ranging from three years and three months for grievous bodily harm to 15 months for being an accessory to the abuse.

In a symbolic gesture meant to revive riot-shocked Athens, city authorities will light a large Christmas tree Tuesday on central Syntagma Square — which has been at the center of many of the protests. The tree replaces one burnt during last week's riots.

Overnight, arsonists attacked three Athens banks with petrol bombs, causing extensive damage. There were no injuries or arrests. Every year, small anarchist groups carry out dozens of firebombings in Greece against government property, banks and diplomatic vehicles.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081216/ap_o..._r9tcEtbAF