Greece: Third Night of Protests Over Police Shooting of Roma Teenager

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Facts

  • Greek police reported that clashes with ethnic Roma groups escalated on Thursday evening in the western Athens area, with protesters firing against special police forces, and setting fire to a car, dumpsters, and tires.
  • Police conducted multiple raids at Roma settlements in the northwest of the country's capital earlier on Thursday, making seven arrests for drug possession and detaining four others for questioning.
  • As of Wednesday, 13 police officers were injured during riots, including a policeman shot in the head on Tuesday in the Roma district of Menidi, western Athens. A day later, he was discharged from the hospital where surgeons removed shrapnel from under his eye.
  • Protests erupted after police chased and shot a 16-year-old boy from the Roma community, reportedly named Kostas Fragoulis, in Thessaloniki because he didn't pay for petrol. The Roma teenager is still hospitalized in critical condition with severe head injuries caused by a bullet.
  • The police officer who allegedly shot him has been arrested and suspended from duty. On Friday, the officer is expected to appear in court on charges of a felony count of manslaughter with possible intent, and a misdemeanor count of illegally firing his weapon.
  • This incident came on the eve of the 14th anniversary of the death of Alexis Grigoropoulos, a teenager killed by an officer in Athens under controversial circumstances. Several men from the Roma community have been fatally shot or injured in recent years in similar incidents.

Sources: Ekathimerini, Associated Press, Greek Reporter, Balkan Insight, Al Jazeera, and Guardian.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by Canary. This tragic incident has exposed to the world what ethnic Roma have to endure in Greece due to systemic racism and police violence. Punishing and incarcerating the suspect must be the first step towards a reckoning with this historic injustice.
  • Right narrative, as provided by Ekathimerini. Though Greek authorities are investigating this case, political opposition is seeking to weaponize the incident for political reasons — trying to make an inflammatory link with the 2008 killing of Grigoropoulos. The law applies to everyone in Greece and police are supported strictly within the framework of the law.