Showing posts with label athens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label athens. Show all posts

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Police Shooting Sparks Riots in Greece - NYTimes.com

Police Shooting Sparks Riots in Greece - NYTimes.com: “ATHENS — Mobs of militant youth angered by the fatal shooting of a teenager took to a weekend of rampage, battling police in central Athens and destroying scores of shops, cars and businesses across the country.

The riots, triggered late Saturday when a small group of youths attacked a police car in central Athens, sparked a spree of violence that ripped through the country, leaving many cities shattered like war zones.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said a senior police official who requested anonymity because of his involvement in the investigation. “The tension is so thick you can almost cut it with a knife.”

The circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting remained unclear.

Still, a police statement issued in the early hours of Sunday said the shooting took place while two officers were targeted by some 30 youths — many of them hurling stones — while patrolling the central district of Exarchia, an unruly haven of leftist extremists.”