Greece Burns
In what is getting scant attention in American media, protesters have thrown Greece into chaos in recent days.
The protests turned violent and massive after police shot dead a 15-year old boy over the weekend.
They protest against police violence specifically and government policy in general. Two policemen are under investigation for the death of the 15-year old, but the protesters are having none of it.
While the two were being testified in court, youths assembled around the court, throwing molotov cocktails at it. Police then responded by firing teargas at the protesters.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis is a conservative who has come under fire after the economic crisis hit his country.
“Participation in the strike is total, the country has come to a standstill,” said Stathis Anestis, spokesman for the GSEE private sector union federation told the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper.
They were already angry before 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot dead by police, but his death truly ignited ‘anger over government scandals, unemployment and high poverty levels, worsened by the global economic slump.’
The country’s opposition socialist party responded to the protests saying that the conservative government had lost the trust of the people. It went on to call for new elections.
As happens more often in countries like Greece, the government response was counterproductive: instead of calming everyone down, police were ordered to use violence. This sparked only more violence and more anger.
Greece’s government would be wise to clamp down on the violence, to reach out to the protesters and to the rest of the Greek people and, if necessary, to call for new elections: if it does not, the protests may very well become more massive and more violent, which would be horrendous considering the current state the country’s economy is in.
I’ve noticed Greece seems to have a high level of activism among its population, at least among the younger crowd in Athens. When I was there in January 2007, there was a rather large protest.
Its so crazy what happens in greece with students actually !