ATHENS (AFP) -- Two Greek police officers were arrested Sunday over the killing of a 15-year-old boy, touching off a wave of violent protests by angry youths setting Athens and other Greek cities ablaze.Thousands of protestors battled police in central Athens Sunday, smashing the windows of shops and banks with molotov cocktails, and sending three officers to hospital, said police, who used tear gas to disperse the rioters.And in the western city of Patras, a police officer was in hospital after being beaten up by a group of youths.In the Greek capital, officers arrested about 10 protestors and about 14 demonstrators were treated for breathing difficulties caused by the tear gas, said the police.Along Alexandras avenue, at least three banks -- the National Bank of Greece, the Emporiki Bank and the Bank of Piraeus -- as well as supermarkets and dozens of shops were set on fire during the clashes .Nearly 5,000 people rallied outside the National Museum near where the teenage victim, Andreas Grigoropoulos, died late Saturday.
ATHENS (AFP) -- Two Greek police officers were arrested Sunday over the killing of a 15-year-old boy, touching off a wave of violent protests by angry youths setting Athens and other Greek cities ablaze.
Thousands of protestors battled police in central Athens Sunday, smashing the windows of shops and banks with molotov cocktails, and sending three officers to hospital, said police, who used tear gas to disperse the rioters.
And in the western city of Patras, a police officer was in hospital after being beaten up by a group of youths.
In the Greek capital, officers arrested about 10 protestors and about 14 demonstrators were treated for breathing difficulties caused by the tear gas, said the police.
Along Alexandras avenue, at least three banks -- the National Bank of Greece, the Emporiki Bank and the Bank of Piraeus -- as well as supermarkets and dozens of shops were set on fire during the clashes .
Nearly 5,000 people rallied outside the National Museum near where the teenage victim, Andreas Grigoropoulos, died late Saturday.
The trigger was the murder of the 16 year old kid in Exarchia, the alternative/atiauthoritarian hotbed of Athens, in what eyewitnesses describe as a shooting in cold blood by a Special Guard (like a policeman only less trained and more eager to shoot as not a few recent incidents have shown). But the tension that has created the possibilities of riots has been brewing for some time now, certainly since last year's student protests, when the police started a de facto feud with anyone under 30. But it isn't just the youth. The police were pelted with lemons thrown by apartment residents of all ages from their balkonies, I heard, as they were passing through Alexandras Ave and the composition of the crowd yesterday (2500 three hours after the event at midnight, of all ages), included some not so young faces.
There is a climate of utter dissapointment with the government (and the political system as a whole I'd say), coupled with the grimmest mood I can remember, insecurity, high unemployment, high cost of living along with low paying and precarious work especially for young people - plus of course the ominous shadow of the Crisis.
IOW, in terms of societal weather: its rioty with a good chance of local revolts. The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
