Riots Rage in Greece After Cop Shoots Boy

Where: Athens, Greece

December 11, 2008 : The shooting took place after a verbal disagreement between two police officers and a small group of people in the Exarcheia district of Athens. Eyewitnesses said the police officer fired directly at the boy. In the riots that followed, protesters expressed their rage against the government. They set hundreds of buildings on fire, and hurled petrol bombs at police. Even the giant Christmas tree on Athens’ central Syntagma Square was torched.

Alexandros Grigoropoulos was buried on the following Tuesday, and there were clashes near the cemetery, reports BBC. The violence spread to other parts of the country, and Wednesday saw a 24-hour countrywide general strike. Dozens of people have been injured, many of them police officers. The BBC’s correspondent in Athens, however, reported that on no account would military troops be called out, as the people of Greece have ‘bitter memories of military rule’.

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Filed under: world news
Tags: #athens, #greece

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