More Riots Accompany Greek Teen's Funeral
Political Unrest Grows As Violence Continues Four Days After Police Shooting
-
Play CBS Video
Video
Athens Protests Police Shooting
"CBS News RAW": Protesters continue to clash with police in a third day of violent riots in Athens, Greece. The riots were sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 15-year-old.
-
-
Photo
A protester gestures at riot police during clashes in the southern Athens suburb of Nea Smirni, Dec. 9, 2008, after the funeral of a teenager shot by police Saturday. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
-
Photo
A protester attempts to clear a tear gas canister in front of riot police, as rioting continued for a fourth day in Athens, Dec. 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
-
Photo
A firefighter stands after they put out a fire that destroyed a store in central Athens, Dec. 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
-
Photo
Rioting youth stands by a burning barricade in the center of Athens as riots went on for a third day in the Greek capital on Monday, Dec. 8, 2008. (AP)
-
Photo
Protesters throw stones at riot police during clashes in central Athens on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. Riots broke out in the Greek capital as demonstrators protested the fatal police shooting of a teenager in Athens the previous night. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
-
-
Photo Essay
Riots Rock Greece
Police shooting of teenager in Athens sparks worst rioting in decades.
-
Fast Facts
Greece
Learn about the people, economy and history.
Opposition socialist leader George Papandreou called for early elections, saying the governing conservatives were incapable of defending the public from rioters.
The government has a single-seat majority in the 300-member Parliament and opposition parties blame hands-off policing for encouraging the worst rioting the country has seen in decades.
"The government cannot handle this crisis and has lost the trust of the Greek people," Papandreou said. "The best thing it can do is resign and let the people find a solution ... we will protect the public."
High-school and university students joined elements of mostly left-wing and self-styled anarchist groups to rampage through the capital and several other cities overnight. Gangs of masked youths roamed the streets erecting burning barricades and pelting riot police with rocks and bottles.
Meanwhile, Greece's two largest labor unions said they will push ahead with demonstrations in riot-ravaged Athens as part of a 24-hour strike Wednesday to protest the government's economic policies.
Greece's transport will grind to a halt Wednesday as flights and ferry links will be cut and train service severely limited.
On Tuesday, police fired tear gas to dispel dozens of youths throwing stones and sticks and setting trash cans on fire near the funeral for 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, whose death Saturday sparked the rioting. Dozens of local residents gathered on the streets, shouting at police to stop firing gas in the residential area.
Some 6,000 people attended the funeral, applauding as the body was carried out of the church in a flower-covered white coffin.
Schools and universities across Greece were closed and hundreds of teachers, university lecturers and students rallied in central Athens, where hundreds of teenagers threw rocks and scuffled with officers. Fighting also continued in Thessaloniki.
"Everyone has let our children down ... Every day I see that students are becoming more hostile toward us and figures of authority," said Christos Kittas, who resigned as the dean of Athens University after the rioting spread to campuses.
Tension between security forces and leftist groups is deeply rooted in Greece, dating back to the seven-year military dictatorship that was toppled by a student uprising in 1974.
The groups have now evolved into various factions that claim to fight trends ranging from globalization to the growth of police surveillance cameras.
Their impact is usually limited to graffiti and late-night firebomb attacks on targets such as stores and cash machines.
It's very simple - we want the government to fall. This boy's death was the last straw for us.
Petros Constantinou, Socialist Workers Party"It's very simple - we want the government to fall. This boy's death was the last straw for us," Petros Constantinou, an organizer with the Socialist Workers Party, said after a protest in central Athens. "This government wants the poor to pay for all the country's problems - never the rich - and they keep those who protest in line with police oppression."
Even if the opposition Socialists were to come to power, they would find themselves faced with pressure to reform the economy and pensions.
Police said rioters damaged or destroyed 200 stores and 50 banks in Athens overnight, while 20 buildings were damaged by fires, including downtown hotels that were temporarily evacuated late Monday. A further 100 stores were damaged in Thessaloniki.
There was also rioting in Crete, the holiday island of Corfu, and in other areas around Greece.
Riot police used tear gas when attacked by youths but stood back as they smashed windows and torched stores along Athens' main commercial streets.
Greece's interior minister insisted police had successfully protected human life, and Karamanlis said there would be no leniency for rioters.
On Tuesday, the Bank of Greece announced a 12-month delay on interest payments for loans by shopkeepers affected by the rioting. But the Athens Traders Association encouraged its members to sue the government, saying police had failed to protect them.
The circumstances surrounding Grigoropoulos' 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.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



Posted by WarDogLRS at 09:42 AM : Dec 09, 2008
Considering that they have the firepower to achieve at least a 10 to 1 kill ratio on their attackers, that should be a VERY SHORT WAR.
Birthplace of democracy vs. America, the fascist mockery of democracy. Something tells me while the symptoms appear to be the same, young American''s will find LEAVING in LARGE NUMBERS a much more attractive alternative.
In fact, if you can''t see the writing on the wall you deserve what''s coming to you, and it will be a lot worse than police state oppression.
I mean you realize that IMPEACHMENT, a Constitutional guarantee of due process -- a promise for action made to the people of this country by it''s first Congress -- was "taken off the table" for President Bush?
Christ, and that''s not even a fraction of due process violations, passing over of democratic legislation to a non-Constitionally documented process of "executive order" without contest (due process and rule of law protections)-- do you know what sort of country this is when that is allowed?
God Bless America
Posted by AverJane at 12:27 PM : Dec 09, 2008
Then again, the kid that was killed was the same race as his attackers and maybe, just maybe the Greek hold the taking of life by police a little more seriously than Americans do.--at the very least, they seem to hold the killing of this teen of the same race with a little more reverence (and therefore censure) than we do--many Americans honor and defend police--even when the police are definitely in the wrong.
Posted by AverJane at 12:27 PM : Dec 09, 2008
If I was part of a culture, that routinely was mistreated, beat, shot, framed or tortured by police--I''d tell my kids to run like hell too. After all, if they run, they have a chance--if they stay they are sitting ducks for whatever the police want to do to them. Our country has a long and documented history of police brutality and killing against blacks--why the fvck should they stand still for that?
The government is conservative, which is synonymous with fascism and clearly displayed by your comments.
You authority lovers are cowards and anti-American traitors.
These riots are like most other riots. They are made up of people who are trying to commit violence for the thrill of violence and being able to escape in the mob and plain old looters. Sprinkle in a few zealots trying to advance a political purpose through the chaos and you have your basic non-denominational riot. Works equally well for left or right political agendas and the pyschos get to beat, burn and plunder.
There is a difference between authority and authoritarian, and it''s always conservatives who don''t understand what it is.
You (like all American conservatives) are a fascist in the purest historical sense of the word.
Posted by comeon11
I have to agree, as Somalia has not had a stable government for years and what has become of them. not much except many have become thieves and kidnappers.
Posted by jumkey
"are a fascist," means only one. If you are talking about all Americans, don''t you mean more than one?
We are the patsies who will follow the pied pipers over the cliff in passiveness.
-
by wdh3007
December 10, 2008 12:02 AM PST
- Big Fat Greek riot is right someone needs to tell Greece that this stuff happens all the time in everyday America take two midol and sleep it off!
-
Reply to this comment
-
See all 24 Comments