Memorial for slain teenager tomorrow
The memorial service for 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos is due to take place in southern Athens tomorrow, as the investigation into his shooting by a police officer on December 6 gathers pace. A large crowd is expected to gather at the Palaio Faliron cemetery where the teenager was buried last month to pay their respect. The Indymedia Athens website as well as numerous blogs are encouraging people to attend the service, which begins at 11.30 a.m. Grigoropoulos’s funeral in December was marred by clashes near the cemetery involving riot police and protesters. The finishing touches were being put to the headstones for the teenager’s grave yesterday. One will read: «Alexandros Grigoropoulos, aged 15, murdered on December 6.» The other contains passages from William Shakespeare’s «Hamlet,» including the line: «I am dead, You that look pale and tremble at this chance, That are but mutes or audience to this act, Had I but time, O, I could tell you. But let it be. Thou livest. Report me and my cause aright To the unsatisfied.» The magistrate handling the judicial investigation into the teenager’s shooting now has all the information about the incident, including witness statements, forensic reports and the coroner’s findings, at his disposal. The latest information to be handed to the magistrate was the ballistic report, which suggests that the bullet fired by special guard Epaminondas Korkoneas struck a round concrete bollard before hitting Grigoropoulos. A diagram put together by the ballistic experts suggests that Korkoneas was standing some 20 meters away from the teenager when he fired his gun and that Grigoropoulos was almost 8 meters from the bollard when he was hit.
