Andreas (Alexandros) Grigoropoulos

The 15 or 16-year-old shot dead by police in Athens on Saturday December 6 has been named in reports as being Andreas Grigoropoulos (Pictured above. Source: Athens Indymedia). In response to the teenager’s murder, some hundreds if not thousands of people, mostly young, have rioted in Athens, Thessaolinki, Patras and other cities, torching banks, cars and shops, and fighting with police.

Police expressed “deep regret” over the shooting.

Update

…my Greek is er, non-existent, but GiaNt’s blog appears to feature video footage shot at the time of the killing…

Alternative accounts suggest that the police version of the killing is… the police version. Thus while police accounts describe a hostile and violent group of 30, others claim that there were six people on the street near the main square in Exarchia where Andreas (Alexandros-Andreas) was shot dead. (The two policemen who have been arrested in relation to the killing are 37-year-old Epaminondas Korkoneas and 31-year-old Vassilis Saraliotis.) According to anarchist and other, independent accounts, the shooting took place following an argument between the small group of youths and the three two police in their patrol car. The group carried no weapons of any kind (as police claim). The killing took place in front of a number of eyewitnesses from surrounding bars, which were very busy, and was committed by one of the three pair after he left his vehicle and shot Andreas in cold blood. These accounts have not been published by Greek or foreign corporate/state media, but are circulating via independent media, blogs, bulletin boards, e-lists and so on, mostly in Greek.

Protests and rallies have been held in many cities and towns across Greece, and solidarity actions are being organised across Europe.

teacher dude’s blog has some interesting accounts of the response in Thessaloniki.

Oh yeah:

1) Apparently, a general strike was already organised for December 10;
2) Greece has embassies and consulates right around the world.

AFP:

Angry Greeks wreak havoc after police kill teen

ATHENS (AFP) — Hundreds of protesters set cars ablaze, lobbed molotov cocktails at banks and clashed with police in several Greek cities on Sunday in a night-long display of anger at the police killing of a teenager.

The death of 15-year-old Andreas Grigoropoulos late Saturday set off outbursts throughout the evening from the capital Athens to the southern island of Crete.

The clashes continued through Sunday morning in both Athens and in the Greece’s second largest city, Salonika.

In central Athens, a group of masked youths threw stones and molotov cocktails at police officers who responded with tear gas in front of a university.

Other groups held siege at the polytechnic school in the Exarchia district, where Grigoropoulos was shot by a police officer who opened fire after youths threw objects at his car.

In Salonika, a dozen banks and shops were torched by protestors as around 2,000 demonstrators rallied in the city centre.

The windows of Salonika’s city hall were broken, and the Greek National Bank and Emporiki Bank were targeted as well as clothing stores and supermarkets.

Demonstrators intially took to the streets of Athens late on Saturday to protest the “arbitrary” police action, shouting slogans against the right-wing government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

Youths set fire to garbage bins in the central Exarchia district, scene of frequent clashes with police.

The anger spread to other cities as protesters set about 20 cars on fire in Athens, Salonika and western Patras through the evening.

The facades of 17 banks in Athens and five in Salonika were damaged, while some businesses were also attacked. Demonstrators threw molotov cocktails at the police station in Patras.

On the island of Crete, three banks in the main city of Iraklion were damaged while molotov cocktails were tossed at city hall in the town of Chania.

Grigoropoulos was among a group of about 30 youths who threw stones and other projectiles at a car transporting two police officer. One of the officers got out of the car and opened fire, hitting the teenager with three bullets.

He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead of a chest wound.

Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos called for an “exemplary punishment” against those responsible for what he termed an “isolated incident.”

Three prosecutors were tasked with investigating the shooting, while the Athens Press Agency reported that the chief of the police station in Exarchia and the two police officers involved in the shooting were suspended.

Pavlopoulos and the police expressed “deep regret” over the shooting.

“Police keep watch and try to ensure order for citizens by defending themselves … but this type of isolated incident that led to the death of a youth is never justifiable,” Pavlopoulos said.

He called on human rights groups and leftist organisations planning protests on Sunday to avoid “extreme acts.”

Pavlopoulos and junior minister Panayotis Hinofotis offered their resignations to the prime minister, who did not accept them.

In 1985, 15-year-old Michalis Kaltezas was shot by a police officer, triggering violent clashes between far-left youths and the police in Exarchia.

Video : BBC | BBC

Nikos Maziotiz, communique from an ‘anarchist urban guerilla’, Black Flag, 215:

…In July of 1976, during conflicts in the centre of Athens between construction workers and the police, a police armoured vehicle murdered a woman aged 66, Anastasia Tsivika.

In 1978, men of MEA (special police units) murdered doctor Tsironis in his home in N. Smyrni, when he declared that his house was a dominion autonomous from the Greek state.

On the 16th of November 1980, during the demonstration from the polytechnic to the American embassy, Iakovos Koumis and Stamatina Kanelopulou were beaten to death by the MAT (riot police).

On the 17th of November 1985, during clashes around the polytechnic, riot-policeman Melistas murdered 15 year old Michalis Kaltezas.

In 1986, in Kessariani, during clashes between strikers of the EDOK-ETER and the MAT, the worker Agelos Mavroudis was killed.

On the 9th of January 1991, the teacher N. Temponeras was murdered by right-wing thugs who wanted to stop the students’ occupations of schools in Patras.

On the 10th January, 1991, during clashes after the students’ demonstration after the murder of N. Temponeras, tear-gas thrown by the MAT set fire to a shopping centre and four citizens died. On the 27th of the same month the death after torture of the Turkish political refugee Souleiman Aknar was announced. He was detained in the Public Security Building.

On the 10th January 1994, officer Lagogianis, who belongs to the police station of Moschato, with 5 shots executed Th. Giakas, during a simple identification.

In December of 1995 an Albanian prisoner was murdered during an attempt to escape from Stavrakiou Ioanninon prison.

In July of 1996, in Piraeus, on the ship Pegasus, inside cabin 53, anarchist Christoforos Marinos was executed.

The same year, in a police blockade outside the city of Livadia, policemen murdered Tasos Mouratis a Roma.

In December of 1997, an Albanian prisoner was murdered by policemen in his effort to escape Diavaton prison in Salonica.

The list of murders by the “democratic” state and the “democratic” police has no end. None of the murderers ever paid for their actions…

About @ndy

I live in Melbourne, Australia. I like anarchy. I don't like nazis. I enjoy eating pizza and drinking beer. I barrack for the greatest football team on Earth: Collingwood Magpies. The 2024 premiership's a cakewalk for the good old Collingwood.
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2 Responses to Andreas (Alexandros) Grigoropoulos

  1. Run to Paradise says:

    Inspiring to see such livelyness from comrades over there.

  2. Pingback: Alexandros Grigoropoulos, two years on… | slackbastard

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