A colleague forwarded a link to me of pictures from the riots in Athens.  It’s a collection of great photography that has captured the intensity, anger and devastation that has been caused to one of our most beloved cities.

Click on the photo to take you to the collection hosted by The Big Picture.

BBC Video Link – Clashes Continue

Renewed clashes have broken out between protesters and police in Greece, in continuing unrest over the killing of a teenaged boy by police.

Demonstrators charged at riot police outside parliament, throwing fire bombs. Police responded with volleys of tear gas.

Twelve days after the police shooting, anger has combined with discontent in other parts of Greek society.

Protesters want the government to change social and economic policies.

Air traffic controllers are the latest public sector workers to go on strike.

An estimated 10,000 people joined a demonstration in Athens on Thursday that congregated outside a university and marched towards parliament, in anger at the shooting of a 15-year-old boy by a policeman on 6 December.

Banners castigated the government, which protesters accuse of failing the Greek people.

“Down with the government of blood, poverty and privatisations,” one banner read, Reuters news agency reported.

The new violence erupted in the central square, site of the Greek parliament, as protesters threw petrol bombs at the building and attempted to burn down Athens’ main Christmas tree.

The tree has already been replaced once after being torched during previous protests.

Some 70 people have been injured and about 400 have been detained during the protests. Hundreds of shops and banks have been vandalised and looted.

The policeman accused of shooting Alexandros Grigoropoulos, aged 15, has been charged with murder.

Solidarity rallies

Meanwhile all flights to and from Athens airport were halted for several hours on Thursday as air traffic controllers protested against government policies and demanded a pay rise.

It is part of an industrial action organised by the civil service trade union, ADEDY.

On Wednesday, protesters hung huge banners on the Acropolis, the ancient site that dominates Athens, calling for “resistance”.

Conservative Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has rejected calls to step down, despite growing public pressure.

But earlier this week he acknowledged some of the problems that had fuelled the anger of young people.

In a speech to parliamentary colleagues on Tuesday, he said “long-unresolved problems, such as the lack of meritocracy, corruption in everyday life and a sense of social injustice disappoint young people”.

Source: BBC

I was sent a link to a great article today that provides another analysis of the problems in Greece and the probable causes of the riots … other than the shooting of the young Alex Grigoropoulos.

Have a read and if you have time send your comments.

The Economist: When Nettles Go Ungrasped

Prime Minister announced after his meeting with the cabinet today announced measures for riot-hit shops and businesses. The measures announced by the prime minister included an immediate relief payment of 10,000 euros for SMEs, a state grant of 50 percent of certified damages between 10,000 and 200,000 euros and subsidised 15-year loans for the remaining 50 percent of certified damage that will be guaranteed by the state and will also be available to firms that do not belong to the above two categories.

In addition to the above, he said that the government would arrange for 15-year loans on favourable terms to restore damaged buildings, five-year loans on favourable terms for working capital, a three-month suspension for stricken businesses of their outstanding debts to tax offices, social insurance funds and banks, in addition to other tax relief measures, and the payment of salaries, Christmas bonus payments and social insurance contributions for the employees of all businesses unable to operate until December 20.

Karamanlis said that red tape for those seeking compensation would be kept to a bare minimum, while the applications would involve few supporting documents and have to go through a three-member committee made up of a member of the local chamber of commerce, the local merchants’ association and the economy and finance ministry.

PASOK’s Answer

PASOK rep on issues of development Michalis Chrisochoidis on reference to the government’s measures for riot-hit shops and businesses made the following statement: “The government of fires and destruction answers once more after a national crisis that is caused exclusively by its inefficiency to handle it with the same consistent methods with for fire-hit areas; that is provision of 10.000 euros.

Unfortunately, these measures are not going to restore the huge financial hit the commercial world of big urban cities of Greece received. And that happened because the government could not and did not do what was obvious to the businesses that suffered smaller or bigger damages by vandalisms a few days before Christmas.

Source: Athens News Agency