Riots In Athens After Police Shoot Teen
Youth Throw Stones, Firebombs; Riot Spreads To Other Greek Cities
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Riot police pass by a burnt car outside the National Technical University School of Athens early Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. Hundreds of rioters fought with police in the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki following the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy in central Athens Saturday night. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
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Riot police pass by burnt cars near the National Technical University School of Athens early Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. Rioting broke out after Athens police shot and killed a 16-year-old boy late Saturday, Dec. 6. Witnesses say a group of teenagers attacked a police car, promting an officer to shoot the boy three times in the chest. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
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Protesters are seen at a roadblock as riot police look on in central Athens early Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
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A riot police officer stands next to a burning roadblock in central Athens early Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. Groups of young people clashed with police after an officer shot and killed a 16-year-old boy. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
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Photo Essay Athens, Greece The Greek capital and country's largest city is also one of the world's oldest.
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Fast Facts Greece Learn about the people, economy and history.
Witnesses said the shooting occurred around 9 p.m. when a small group of youths attacked a police patrol car. An officer fired three shots, hitting the youth in the chest.
Police issued a statement saying the patrol car, with two officers inside, was attacked by a group of 30 stone-throwing youths while patrolling the central district of Exarchia. According to the statement, the two officers left their car to confront the rioters.
"The two (police officers) maintain that they were attacked again and responded, with one firing a stun grenade and the other, by shooting three times, resulting in the fatal wounding of the minor," the statement said.
Two Greek TV stations said the young man who had been shot was rushed to a hospital, but died upon arrival.
The two officers and the local precinct commander have been suspended pending an investigation, the police statement said.
"The government expresses its profound regret over this incident. An inquiry on the circumstances of the death has already begun and, if the policemen are found to have been derelict in their duty, the punishment will be exemplary," Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said in a statement.
News of the shooting enraged hundreds of youths in the area, who began rioting, attacking other police cars with stones and firebombs. Police responded by firing tear gas at the crowd, evacuating some restaurants in the area, and closing several streets to all traffic.
A few hours after the rioting began, the youths appeared to divide into at least three separate groups and there was a lull in the fighting.
Shortly after midnight, rioting resumed with some protesters marching through the city center and others fighting police nearby. Police fired tear gas, and rioters threw stones and firebombs.
In the northern city of Thessaloniki, dozens of youths attacked a police precinct in the city center and several others have blockaded a road.
At least one teenager was arrested, but no casualties were reported among the rioters or police.
Calls were posted on Web sites for more people to join the protests in the two main cities as well as the city of Iraklio on the island of Crete.
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- Reliable sources have concluded that it was gang related.
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- My Big Fat Greek Riot......Spray some windex on it....
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- Bunch of, how do you say cowards in Greek? They apparently were not ready for police reaction. Now they want to cry about it. I say beat them down and bust a cap if necessary. Unruley ***.
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- What caused a gang of 30 stone throwing "youths" to go violent in the first place? Who are these "youths"? And why were they so bold to attack a police car to begin with? That is where the story should have started. The who, the what, the why.
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- Posted by gramto8 at 11:32 PM : Dec 06, 2008
Sounds like a bunch of typical punks. Get them in a mob and they will act like they are the macho, ''''I can whup your butt'''' idiots they are every time. Then, when they are stopped, this time by bullets, everyone else in the area riots to show they aren''''t going to take that kind of ''''abuse'''' from the cops. Couldn''''t possibly be that the punks were doing something wrong that caused this one to be shot..... no... never! Yeah! Right!!
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And of course police NEVER over-react and shoot any innocent people. NEVER arrest innocent people. Never! No! Never! Right! - Reply to this comment
- Sounds like a bunch of typical punks. Get them in a mob and they will act like they are the macho, ''I can whup your butt'' idiots they are every time. Then, when they are stopped, this time by bullets, everyone else in the area riots to show they aren''t going to take that kind of ''abuse'' from the cops. Couldn''t possibly be that the punks were doing something wrong that caused this one to be shot..... no... never! Yeah! Right!!
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