Manifs dans 17 villes grecques pour l'anniversaire de l'assassinat d'Alexandre Grigoropoulos

Demonstrations and actions in 17 Greek cities mark two-year anniversary of the state assassination of Alexandros Grigoropoulos; police announce unprecedented traffic ban in central Athens

 

— 22:30 (GMT+2) The violence by police is constant. A new police operation a few minutes ago in Exarcheia left a lot of people injured and some while others are being detained from the area. A lot of tension around Polytechnic school and in the Exarcheia square.

— Another large group of people is gathering in the Athens Police Headquarters where the detainees are being held.

— 22:00 (GMT+2) Clashes still are taking place in Exarcheia. Commercial media write that 84 people have been detained in Athens tonight.

— 21:30 (GMT+2) Very violent attack by the cops against the commemoration gathering on the spot where Alexis was assasniated. Cops pushed people away from that place and according to an entry in Athens Indymedia it seems that the cops broke the little marble monument which was erected there to commemorate the teenager’s murder. People now are marching towards the Polytechnic School while cops throw gas bombs.

— 21:03 (GMT+2) The announced gathering in Mesologeiou st. just started, thousands of people are already there while more are coming, nevertheless, the atmosphere is very heavy due to the gas bombs which were thrown before by the cops.

— 20:05 (GMT +2) People have been concentrating all evening in the spot where Alexis Grigoropoulos was shot in 2008 in Exarcheia area. At the moment barricades and clashes with riot police in various streets of Exarcheia, but as it seems in other parts of Athens’ centre are taking place. According to athens-indymedia a few minutes ago cops threw gaz bombs and sound grenades to people concentrated in Mesologeiou st. exactly where Alexis was shot two years ago. At 21:00 a commemoration gathering will take place there.

— Police has attacked to the demonstrations in other cities such as Giannena, Agrinio and Volos, but demonstrators defended the protests, yet several people (many high school students as it seems) have been detained or arrested.

— Demonstrations took or/and are taking place in at least 17 cities of the country.

— 19:40 (GMT+2) There is tension in the centre of Athens, where police attacks to protesters who remain in the streets while they are pushing groups of protesters towards various directions. The cops attacked to demonstrators in Syntagma Sq. while at the moment clashes take place in front of the Polytechnic School.

— 18:00 (GMT+2) According to information from Athens Indymedia many thousands of people in the streets of Athens at the moment. Police sourounded several blocks and attacked to the demonstration a number of times, notably a harsh attack against the block of the Athens Law School students’ took place, now several demonstrators are in the building of the Law School. There were some clashes in front of the parliament it seems that molotov cocktails were thrown to the police lines in front of there.

— 16:20 (GMT+2) The demonstration in Athens have been effectivelly banned. Charging at the first people who gathered at the Univerity’s Propylaia police have now pushed a large demo block. Hundreds of people keep now gathering, effectivelly behind the police lines.

— 15:55 (GMT+2) Main demo has not even started but clashes with the police have. Riot police have sourounded the university of Athens where the pre-demo gathering takes place.

— 13:45 (GMT+2) The joint student/teacher demonstration in Athens just ended. In the spirit of December, students pelted the police with oranges. We are waiting for the main evening demonstration to start.

Earlier high school students’ demonstrations took place in various parts of Athens and outside the capital, in the Athens’ suburb of Aigaleo was reported that a few hundrend students marched in the local police department where were tehy clashed with police.

Today, 6.12.2010, marks two years from the date of the assassination of 15-year old Alexis Grigoropoulos by special police forces in the Exarcheia district of Athens.

This post will be carrying continuous updates from demonstrations and actions organised in Athens and Thessaloniki and a summary of the events nationwide. There are demonstrations called in at least 17 Greek cities.

On Sunday night, police presence in Exarcheia was very high (even higher than usual) and at least four people were reported to have been detained by police.

Called demonstrations:

— Athens: student demonstration at 11am, main demonstration at 4pm, gathering at the point of Alexis’ assassination at 9pm. 

— Thessaloniki: student demo at noon, main demo at 3pm.

On the eve of December 6th, the police announced an unprecedented 21-hour traffic ban in central Athens: no vehicles whatsoever are permitted to park or drive through the roads marked in the map below; these effectively include the entire city centre:

From The Greek Streets, December 6, 2010.

Heurts entre jeunes et policiers dans le centre d'Athènes

Les policiers grecs ont fait usage de gaz lacrymogènes contre quelque 3.000 jeunes qui manifestaient dans le centre d'Athènes à l'occasion du second anniversaire de la mort d'un des leurs, qui avait déclenché les pires émeutes en Grèce depuis des décennies. 

Les manifestants, dont la plupart étaient cagoulés, ont lancé des pierres, bouteilles et autres projectiles aux policiers, y compris trois cocktails Molotov. Ils ont aussi dégradé des abribus et brisé des vitrines. 

Un demi-millier d'entre eux se sont affrontés aux policiers devant les hôtels de luxe de la place Syntagma, près du parlement.

La circulation a été interdite sur les principales avenues et places du centre-ville en prévision d'incidents supplémentaires, tandis que de nombreux commerces se sont protégés en plaçant des grilles métalliques sur leurs devantures. 

La mort en 2008 d'Alexis Grigoropoulos, un jeune homme de 15 ans tombé sous les balles de policiers, avait déclenché de violentes émeutes qui avaient paralysé Athènes durant des semaines. 

Deux policiers ont été reconnus coupables de sa mort cette année. Sur les lieux du drame, une foule s'est rassemblé lundi en silence. Beaucoup ont déposé des bouquets de fleurs ou allumé des bougies devant la plaque de marbre à sa mémoire.

Leur presse (Reuters), 6 décembre.

Grèce : affrontements entre police et jeunes pour l'anniversaire de la mort d'un adolescent

Des jeunes gens ont affronté lundi la police anti-émeute et lancé des pierres contre des bâtiments ministériels dans le centre d'Athènes, alors que les étudiants marquaient le deuxième anniversaire d'un adolescent tué par des tirs de la police. Cet événement avait provoqué les pires émeutes de ces dix dernières années.

Les violences de lundi se sont produites dans plusieurs quartiers de la capitale grecque, pendant qu'environ 2.000 personnes marchaient en direction du parlement pour marquer l'anniversaire de la mort de Alexandros Grigoropoulos, 15 ans. Les jeunes s'en sont pris à la police et ont lancé au ministère des Finances avec des pierres, des oranges et des fusées. Aucun blessé ni interpellation n'ont été rapportés.

Dans la deuxième ville du pays, Thessalonique, environ 2.000 personnes ont également manifesté dans les rues.

Les émeutes de 2008 étaient les pires violences civiles que la Grèce a connues ces dernières décennies, avec des jeunes gens se déchaînant principalement la nuit, pendant deux semaines.

La police avait fermé les principales routes menant à Athènes et déployé des milliers de policiers dans la capitale.

En octobre, le policier Epaminondas Korkoneas a été condamné pour le meurtre de l'adolescent à la prison à vie. Un autre policier a été condamné à dix ans de prison.

Leur presse (AP), 6 décembre.