Police braces for December 6 anniversary of student killing
Security in downtown Athens is expected to be increased on Sunday, December 6, the anniversary of the 2008 fatal shooting by a policeman of 15-year-old student Alexis Grigoropoulos, an incident that sparked almost a week of violent rioting around the country.
Riot police squads will be located at key locations and particularly around the neighborhood of Exarchia where the 2008 shooting took place, while the number of officers assigned to patrol marches organized to commemorate the incident will be above 5,000.
At last year’s commemoration, 12 police officers were wounded during clashes with self-styled anarchists in Exarchia who launched attacks with rocks and Molotov cocktails from the rooftops of buildings.
Grigoropoulos was fatally shot during a verbal altercation by special police guard Epaminondas Korkoneas on the night of December 6, 2008, while the teen was hanging out with friends near his mother’s shop in the popular downtown district.
