Clashes at Protests against Police Brutality in Greece last December 6, 2010
Thousands marched today in Athens to mark the anniversary of the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old kid, murdered by a police officer in 2008.
42 people were arrested and many were injured from cops. Athens, Greece. 6/12/2010
There were two different protests scheduled for today as well as a commemoration gathering at the spot Alexandros Grigoropoulos died.
The morning protest was organized by high-school students, about 3,000 participated and some clashes occurred at Syntagma square were children threw stones, sticks, oranges and bottles at police. The police had a defensive stance against them and clashes didn't escalate. (I have no photos from this protest)
The afternoon protest was organized by political parties and youths, some unions and university students. About 6000 participated including a large number of hooded protesters who had come with intention to clash with the police. Minor clashes started early when the hooded protesters started throwing rocks and objects to riot police and the later responded with tear gas. This was going on and on until the protest reached Syntagma square were some protesters had prepared some molotov cocktails for the police. After this point, when the head of the protest was at Propylaia, you could see riot police chasing groups of people here and there and it was very hard to breath from the excessive use of tear gas.
After the protest had ended, riot police were targeting and attacking small groups of protesters, most of them had nothing to do with riots or clashes, many protesters were injured and some needed to be hospitalized.
At 20:00 around 100 protesters were on Athens Polytechnic in which the police had blocked access so no other could go there.
At the spot were Alexis Grigoropoulos died there were around 250 people. The presence of riot police there triggered new minor clashes and the use of tear gas made the air difficult to breathe.
A small number of them, about 30, were clashing with the nearby riot policemen who threw tear gas and stun grenades every now and then until 21:30 when they threw so much tear gas that people had to leave the place. Police had literally surrounded the place, there was three different riot police groups visible from the spot Alexis died.
At about 21:30 police threw so much tear gas that only a few stayed in the spot Alexis died. The clashes stopped completely later at night.
During the protest one protester was attacked in suspicion that he was an undercover and a passenger was seriously injured in the head from object that hooded protesters threw to the police. Also a cameraman was attacked at Exarcheia and his camera was stolen.
Police brutality against photographers marked this protest too. A photographer was attacked by riot police because he was shooting photos and they broke his finger. Also a group of photographers were harassed by riot police.
