The burial of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, shot to death by police in Athens on Saturday, brought a fourth day of rioting in Athens. The protest over the shooting has spread to other Greek cities, as well. Tuesday's rioting brought street fights with the police in downtown Athens with some arson included. Spiegel reports that "hatten ... rund 5000 zumeist vermummte Autonome Läden, öffentliche Gebäude und Autos in Brand gesteckt und eine beispiellose Spur der Verwüstung hinterlassen." (around 5000 mostly masked Autonome [anarchists, more-or-less] set fire to stores, public buildings and cars and left behind unprecedented devastation). (Krawalle nach Beerdigung: Polizisten jagen Jugendliche durch die Straßen von Athen Der Spiegel Online .09.12.2008)
I'm not exactly sure what "unprecedented devastation" might mean in the context. Spiegel says that businesspeople are estimating up to one billion euros in damage, though that can hardly be based on a systematic assessment.
Der Spiegel has a German-language video with footage of the funeral and some street confrontations between police and young people. The video narrative talks about "Bürgerkrieg-ähnliche Zustande" (civil-war-like conditions) that the police have so far been helpless to contain. The actual video footage shows people throwing stones at the police, who are equipped with helmets and shields, and a burning newspaper stand. The video itself doesn't show anything that I would call civil-war-like conditions, although there do seem to be some serious riots going on.
Socialist President Karolos Papoulias is calling for the conservative government of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis (New Democracy [ND] Party) to crack down on the demonstrators. Karamanlis promises to throughly investigate the shooting of Alexis Grigoropoulos, for which a policeman has already been arrested on manslaughter charges. The opposition Socialists under Giorgos Papandreou are criticizing the government for being unprepared for such a crisis. And the Socialists are apparently trying to outdo the government party in calling for a hard line against the rioters. Karamanlis was re-elected as Prime Minister in 2007 with a slim ND parliamentary majority.
See also:
Anarchists' fury fuels Greek riots by Nicole Itano Christian Science Monitor 12/08/08
Pitched Battles Continue in Athens as Shooting Victim is Buried Deutsche Welle 09.12.2008
Greek PM calls crisis cabinet meeting by Kerin Hope Financial Times 12/07/08
Funeral of slain teen brings more violence to Athens by Anthee Carassava and Rachel Donadio International Herald Tribune 12/09/08
Tags: greece
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