Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

On December 6, 2008, the cold-blooded killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by Greek police in the Athens neighborhood of Exarcheia sparked an unprecedented wave of protests and rioting that came to extend across Athens, the majority of Greek cities and towns, and even beyond the country's own borders, with more than 200 protests reported across the world throughout that month.At approximately 9 p.m. local time, only minutes after Grigoropoulos's killing, spontaneous gatherings occurred at the site of his assassination as well as outside Evangelismos hospital, where the teenager had been transferred from Exarcheia, only for doctors to confirm his death. At around 11 p.m. the crowd in Evangelismos clashed with riot police pushing them out of the hospital. At the same time, people flowed toward Exarcheia and were attacked by police. Barricades were erected and there were disturbances as people from all over the city gathered at the Polytechnic, occupying the school. By 2 a.m. on December 7, the Athens School of Economics and the Athens Law School were occupied and there were clashes with police in the streets of Exarcheia and the surrounding area.By 5 a.m., the riots had spread across most of central Athens and several suburbs; shops in Ermou Street, a major commercial thoroughfare in Athens, were smashed, along with the Acropolis police station and several bank branches. ... log in or subscribe to read full text