Wednesday, May 5, 2010

National Bailout of Greece Causes Riot in Athens

It was the deadliest spasm of violence to hit Greece since the 2008 fatal police shooting of a teenage boy unleashed weeks of riots and social upheaval.

A 24 hour national strike turned into a riot that caused 3 people to die in Greece. 100,000 people left their jobs to march the streets to protest the multimillion dollar bailout of Greece and what went from simple name calling and yelling, turned into a riot that set two buildings on fire, killed two people, ruined dozens of store fronts and ruined at least ten banks in Athens. It had first started when some worked tried to break through the police line to the capital and the police shot three rounds of pepper gas into the crowd. Instead of leaving, the crowd fought back which even brought out "black-clad anarchists also emerged from the meandering side streets of downtown, attacking security forces with rocks and homemade bombs."

"Everyone is furious," said George Pavlopoulos, a bespectacled bank employee and union representative. "These measures leave no one untouched. We have no other option but to revolt."

Submitted by Tieren Dokes
http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/topofthetimes/topstories/la-fg-greece-riots-20100506,0,4398954.story

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