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Statement by the Press Bureau of the CC of KNE on the murder of the 15-year-old boy
December 8, 2008
Communist Party of Greece (KKE)
Dear comrades,
As you probably already know riots have broken out in Athens and in several Greek cities.
We thank all the comrades expressing already solidarity with the struggle in our country against the police provocations.
The unrest began on 7.12. in the centre of Athens soon after the killing by police forces of a young man in Exarchia district.
Riots then spread to Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, to the northern cities of Komotini and Ioannina, and to Crete.
Two police officers have been suspended, and an inquiry is under way.
Interior minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said in a statement: "The government expresses its profound regret over this incident.
"An inquiry on the circumstances of the death has already begun and, if the policemen are found to have been derelict in their duty, the punishment will be exemplary."
In Athens police fired tear gas at hundreds of stone-throwing youths, who went on a rampage as news of the shooting spread.
After a lull of a couple of hours, rioting resumed shortly after midnight local time (2200 GMT), with some protesters marching through Athens city centre and others fighting police outside the National Technical University of Athens.
In Thessaloniki dozens of youths attacked a police precinct, while others blocked a road near the university campus.
An Interior Ministry press officer told Reuters news agency that Mr Pavlopoulos had offered his resignation to Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, but it had been rejected.
The riots continued also on Sunday 7th December.
The Communist Party of Greece and the Communist Youth KNE are organizing on Monday 8th and on the following days protest rallies in all big cities of the country.
The 4 biggest Universities of the country are closed and more will follow on the next days.
Under the popular protest the government was forced to close all the public schools for the 9th December.
KKE and KNE issued a statement [ see bellow] condemning the police attacks and the growing police violence against workers, immigrants and young people. Mass mobilizations and protest demonstrations will follow since on 10.12.08 is planned the next big general strike against the “anti crises” measures by the government in favour of the big capital an on the expenses of the working people.
Info by the international section
Statement by the Press Bureau of the CC of KNE on the murder of the 15-year-old boy
We condemn the murder in cold blood of 15-year-old Alexandros-Andreas Grigoropoulos committed by a policeman in the Exarchia area of Athens.
The leadership of the police forces and the government bear outsized responsibility.
This incident is a result of the education and orientation of the security forces which are directed against the people, against the popular and working class movement, against the struggle of the youth.
The repressive measures of the state are fully in line with the attack against the life and the rights of the youth to work, education and stable working time, through the flexible working relations. Their target is to cause fear to the workers and the youth.
The arsons and damages have nothing to do with the mass popular movement. Such attacks legalise violence and authoritarianism. On the other hand, they are used as an alibi by the government of ND as well as by the previous ones, in order to conceal the fact that the target of state repression is the popular labour movement.
The only effective response to the provocations of the government is the organised popular movement; the combative, organised, self-protected mobilisation of the youth. The real causes and the responsibility for this incident should not be concealed as it has been in other cases (e.g. torture of immigrants in police stations, the beating of the student in Thessaloniki etc.).
We appeal to the youth to express its indignation, to protest, to condemn and to make, through its organised struggle, accountable politically and criminally the responsibles for the police attacks.
Schools, universities, TEI (Technical Education Institutes), IEK (Vocational Training institutes) and evening schools should be closed down. The mass organisations should release statements condemning the police attacks and organise mass demonstrations and rallies. The youth along with the popular labor movement should participate organised in:
· the demonstration organised by KKE and KNE throughout Greece against the state authoritarianism (in Athens at 18:00 in Omonia)
· In the general strike on Wednesday 10/12 along with the class oriented movement, PAME, in the rallies organised in 63 towns throughout Greece (in Athens at 10:30 in Omonia)
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