Chaos

Impossible to ignore the national news this week, and we have all been watching television coverage of rioters in Athens who are setting fire to shops, banks and office blocks and cars. There have also been incidents in Thessaloniki, Larissa, Patras, Corinth, Chania, Iraklion and many other Greek towns. We even had a minor riot in Corfu - with paint bombs being thrown at the local police stations.

The trigger for all the violence was the shooting of a 15 year old student by police in Athens on Saturday evening. Blame is being laid squarely on the policeman who fired three shots, one of which fatally wounded the student. The incident occurred in an area of Athens renowned for violent incidents between students and the authorities and no-one seems to be asking why there was a gang of young people throwing stones and bottles at the police in the first place. However, the results of the inquest will - one hopes - bring some answers. The police have obviously been instructed not to intervene in the present riots in order to avoid further fatalities, but the result is anarchy in the streets.

Greece holds its students and young people in great respect - with the result that it is anti-constitutional for police authorities to enter the University and Polytechnic grounds, and nobody seems prepared to intervene when these young people express their opinions in a violent manner. It has always been perfectly acceptable for high school students to lock themselves in their schools whenever they feel the need, and teachers seem not only to allow this behaviour, but to approve it. The present rioters are obviously not, in the main, ordinary students, but they are being treated with kid gloves in just the same way.

I'm glad that I don't have to find the solution to bring normality back to the streets, but somebody needs to take action, and maybe start by explaining to those students who are involved in the riots that respect has to be earned, and that whilst believing in something enough to join a protest is admirable, it is possible to protest in a non-violent manner.
Susan