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Kremena Koutsoukou

On December 6, 2008 whole Greece went numb by a ludicrous death. 15 year old Alexis Grigoropoulos was killed by a policeman. Following were civil riots and protests for weeks and Athens couldn’t be recognized. Fire, shots, running angry youngsters, broken store windows, angry people and involved parents…

A year later the capital was being prepared for more riots one month in advance. Many times the court changed the place and date of the lawsuit against the two policemen, one of whom murdered the boy. The many terrorist attacks, bank robberies and bomb threats against politicians, put oil in the fire before the expected riots. Politicians from opposition parties follow closely how the Ministry of Civil Defense will act. The police are facing a hard task. They need to balance their presence by protecting citizens during the new December events. There is no place for mistakes.

The events started from Friday with besieging some universities. At first glance, everything is fairly calm. Following was a peaceful protest at the point where Alexis was shot. The tension does not take long to build. During the planned demonstration in honor of Alexis, anarchists enter the building of the Athenian University and manage to injure the Rector, who was taken to a hospital. A 55 year old demonstrator is also in the ER, because a policeman hit her with his motorcycle. Demonstrations are in their full swing. Clashed between protesters and policemen continue throughout the night. Until Sunday night 540 young protesters are taken to a police station and 120 are arrested. There is one more day to go… for that day a common Greek protest rally was organized.

The center of the capital does not look as it always does. It seems as if minutes ago a tornado passed by. There are oranges on the streets, trash is everywhere, papers fly by, which warn about upcoming rallies. A group of students come to the place of the rally. A group of policemen have gathered at the subway station, where they check bags for illegal objects. When you walk from Syntagma Square to the old university building, for a moment you can forget about the whole mess. Banks are working, tourists drink their coffees in a luxurious café – just few meters away from the starting point of the rally. You can even hear music coming from street musicians, who have chosen the “right day” to bring the Christmas spirit with some famous holiday melodies.

The square in front of the university is full of students. It seems as if all classmates of Alexis are here. There are teachers as well but they get lost among the many students. Angry 12-13 year old boys discuss and curse the police. A small group of girls stays a bit on the side. They share that usually they do not go to protest rallies but today they are here. Because of Alexis. They are afraid of the civil riots and the bombs but say that if it get to that, they will leave. Their parents do not know they will participate in the rally.

Teacher representative reminds the reason for the gathering over the megaphone. Except for honoring Alexis’ death, teachers are here to publicly announce their demands for reforms in the education system. They want different salaries, decreasing the maximum students per class and changes in the evaluation method.

Police presence still cannot be felt. After some time the demonstrators leave towards Syntagma Square. Very soon some of them leave their posters and start attacking the police with stones and oranges. At the beginning the police was not answering back but because the protesters kept on provoking them, they took some measures – tear gas and many arrests. Unapproved screams are heard and curses, pointed at the police.

The action is in its peak at Syntgama Square. Molotov bombs are flying around and the broken store windows become more and more. The atmosphere starts to remind more and more about last year. Back then, anger took the life of a child and of many others. In the days to come we will see what society and authorities learned from the events of December 2008.