Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-12-07
CONTENTS
[01] Rioting after teenager shot by police
[01] Rioting after teenager shot by police
Rioting broke out in Athens and other Greek cities in the early hours
of Sunday, after news began to spread of a teenager's death at the
hands of police in the Athens district of Exarhia the previous night.
The 15-year-old boy was shot in the chest and died of his injuries
shortly after being taken to hospital.
The incident occurred shortly after 9:00 on Saturday night when a
police patrol car responding to a call in the Exarhia district was
surrounded by a gang of 30 youths belonging to leftist,
anti-establishment groups that started throwing stones and bits of
wood.
The two special guards in the patrol decided to pursue the youths and,
in the ensuing fracas, one of them fired his service revolver to
disperse them, injuring the 15-year-old highschool student. The officer
who fired claims he shot twice in the air and once at the ground and
that the bullet that injured the boy must have ricocheted.
The two officers have been placed under arrest, while Deputy Interior
Minister for public order issues, Panagiotis Hinofotis, immediately
initiated action to place the pair on suspension, as well as their
supervisor at the Exarhia police station.
Police headquarters said that an investigation was underway to
determine whether the events had occurred in the way described by the
two officers, while an autopsy has been order to confirm their claim
that they did not shoot directly at the victim.
Caption: Firemen standing outside a building torched during riots by
anti-establishment youths in central Athens that took place on Saturday
night and the early hours of Sunday, in response to the shooting of a
teenage boy at the hands police. ANA-MPA - Katerina Mavrona
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