ATHENS: Greek youths joined demonstrations in Athens and other cities on Friday in memory of a teenage boy killed in 2008 by a police officer, an act that sparked weeks of riots.
In the capital, around 1,000 protesters demonstrated behind a banner that read "Break the chains of submission with the fire of revolt," in the first of two rallies to remember 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos who was killed by an officer on December 6, 2008.
"These days belong to Alexis," the demonstrators chanted. Authorities deployed 3,500 police in Athens, supported by drones, a helicopter and water cannon, a police source said.
The patrol officer who shot Grigoropoulos, Epaminondas Korkoneas, claimed he was acting in self-defence as he fired three shots in the bohemian Athens district of Exarchia, allegedly to keep back youngsters who were hurling objects at them.
Grigoropoulos was hit by a bullet in the chest and died before he could be taken to hospital. For more than a month, hundreds of businesses were vandalised in Athens and other cities on the sidelines of protests by school pupils, university students, unions and left-wing parties.
