Around 50 anarchists clashed with police in the Athenian neighborhood of Kolonos on Saturday, leaving four officers injured. As of Saturday evening, no arrests have been made.
Reportedly, the group of anarchists gathered to demonstrate for the anniversary of the murder of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
He was killed by a Special Guard of the Greek Police Force on December 6, 2008, after a verbal altercation witnesses say was instigated by the officer and his partner.
The two officers were both charged and found guilty in relation to the murder, one with the murder itself and the other as an accomplice. At the time, the heinous killing was marked by riots and protests around the country.
Commemorating Grigoropoulos’s death this year turned violent when around 50 anarchists faced with heavy police presence, began to throw rocks at police officers.
After the clash, the anarchists dispersed, moving toward the nearby metro station in Sepolia.
Citing Covid-19, the state had announced a ban on gatherings of over three people on December 6, the 12th anniversary of Grigoropoulos’s murder.
Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis announced that the measures would be similar to those in place on November 17, the anniversary of the Polytechnic Uprising.
The decision to ban demonstrations in light of the public health crisis Greece and the world is facing was not taken well by members of the Greek left and civil rights groups who saw the act as unconstitutional and an attempt at curtailing the rights of citizens to demonstrate.
In a recent statement, Chrysochoidis stated that the anniversary of Grigoropoulos’s tragic killing must occur with “respect, giving honor to his memory, in the exact same way that occurred for those who died at the Polytechnic.”
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