Athens policeman accidentally hit by ricochet

A policeman in Athens, 21-year-old Diamantis Matzounis, has apparently been shot while guarding offices belonging to the Greek Ministry of Culture. The Belfast Telegraph reports that the man is dead; another account in The Times suggests that this report may be exaggerated. According to the BBC, “Greece’s police chief says bullet cases matched the Kalashnikov rifle used in another attack on police in December”. In other words, the shooting is initially being constructed as the latest in an going campaign of left-wing extra-parliamentary violence.

Unidentified gunmen kill police officer in Athens
The Belfast Telegraph
January 5, 2009

Unidentified gunmen have shot and killed a policeman in the Greek capital, Athens. At least two gunmen opened fire on the 21-year-old officer while he was guarding the Culture Ministry building in the city. The attack is being linked to the recent shooting of a 15-year-old boy by police officers in Athens. The killing sparked almost two weeks of rioting by anarchist groups based in the bohemians [sic] Exarchia area of the city.

Earlier:

On the 23rd of December Konstantina Kuneva, a migrant cleaner and militant union organiser at the Athens Piraeus Electric Railway (ISAP), had sulphuric acid thrown at her face as she was returning home from work. She is still in critical condition. Even if there is no hard evidence for this, people here know the attack against Konstantina was ordered by her employing company, Oikomet SA, a subcontracting company working with ISAP. Since the attack people in solidarity have occupied and hold the headquarters of ISAP in Athens (here is the occupation’s blog). In Thessaloniki, the local Labour Centre (i.e. the mainstream trade union headquarters) has been occupied (their blog). Both occupations have organised a series of demonstrations, solidarity concerts and counter-information actions (occupying, for example, the speaker system of metro stations to read out communiques on the attack)…

Some body on athens indymedia, via occupiedlondon.org, asks: “Was the riot cop shooting orchestrated by the state?”

Previously… Merry Crasmas and a Happy New Fear // “You leftist pig cop!” (December 27, 2008)

A detailed updated summary of the recent events in Athens, from the perspective of some proletarian participants. (Updated January 2, 2009.)
An updated summary of events of the Greek riots in Thessaloniki from 6 December-31 December 2008 by communist group Blaumachen. (Updated January 2, 2009.)

Sometimes life surprises
cause you’d never expect it to be that
dangerous disguises
that you never expect to see

some things never change
nothing’s gonna change that
some things you can’t explain
like why we’re all embracing conventional wisdom in a world that’s just so unconventional

made you turn around
but you never expected to see that
that’s what makes that sound
that you never expect to hear

some things never change
some things wanna change that
some things you can’t explain
like why we’re all embracing conventional wisdom in a world that’s just so unconventional

they don’t know they’re wrong
but you know that they never can see that
that’s what makes them strong
that they know that we’ll never see

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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