Greek riots spark fear of Europe in flames

[babylonsister]

December 14, 2008
Greek riots spark fear of Europe in flames

The protests began over a police shooting but now some see in them a warning to governments to solve the economic slump fast
Matthew Campbell


Seldom do Greek academics attain the heroic status that was bestowed last week on Christos Kittas, an eminent professor of pathology and rector of Athens University.

More comfortable in front of a whiteboard Kittas, a wiry figure with grey hair and a silver beard, found himself on the front line in what looked like a war zone.

From his palatial office on the first floor of the university, he organised a “human chain” of colleagues to defend the historic building from being ransacked in Greece’s worst street violence in decades.

“I’m terrified,” he confided on Friday as yet another column of demonstrators filed past the building, screaming abuse at police – “killers in uniform” – for having shot dead a teenager six days before.

“I haven’t slept in days now,” he added, sitting beneath oil paintings of previous rectors going back to the 1830s.

more...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5337633.ece

[whathehell]

1. A question: Not to undermine the police shooting of an innocent kid

but is there a back story to this shooting?..Is this the latest in a long string of abuses by the Greek police?...Seems like a very long, wide-ranging response to one "mistake".

[babylonsister]

2. According to this, the government was already unpopular, and the

killing of the teen was a catalyst.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/08/greece-riots-background

Police shooting catalyses growing Greek unrest
The riots sparked by the killing of a teenager come at a bad time for an already unpopular government

[Jack_DeLeon]

3. odd...

I'm sure atleast a few teens have died at the hands of the police here during the past couple of years.

I guess we are just already used to it.

[Mojorabbit]

6. If you read some more of the article

it speaks of large unemployment and the collapse of the Greek shipping industry. It looks like a big mess to be sure.

[dipsydoodle]

7. There's always

a straw which breaks the camels back : I guess that's what's happened in Greece and will eventually happen elsewhere too.

All governments should be afraid of their people.

[Mojorabbit]

4. Is this a harbringer

for the world if this recession turns into a global depression?

more from article

The protests continued yesterday and more demonstrations are planned. Some see a foretaste of the next phase of the global financial crisis, sensing in the tear gas and chants a warning to European leaders of what may unfold elsewhere if they do not take into account the frustrations of their people.

Sympathy protests from Moscow to Madrid helped to fuel such concerns, as did Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, who mentioned the Greek upheaval to justify his rejection of budget proposals that would have cushioned the wealthy from losses.

First in the line of fire, however, were Greece’s ruling elite, who had been bolstered in recent years by a bonanza of European Union and the eupho-ria surrounding the hosting of the Olympics in 2004.

Last week they faced a popular uprising by thousands of citizens over a host of grievances from corruption in the government to low salaries and unemployment among the young. The rhetoric was enough to send a shiver down the spine of world leaders meeting in Brussels to discuss a multi-billion-euro bailout.

“Athens must burn, especially the banks,” a teenager called Marios in a hooded sweat-shirt and jeans told me during a protest on Friday.

[nc4bo]

5. They should be afraid. Eventually people(even kids) get sick of being pushed into a corner

and when they feel there is no room left to be pushed into, they begin to push OUT and AGAINST.

The same will happen here when more feel they have nothing left to loose.

All governments should be afraid (I guess that's why * has troops here prepared and ready to go here.)

This was a good read too babylonsister.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/13/athens-greece-riots