OPINION

Enough with the violence

Every time violence erupts in Athens, public discourse focuses on the extreme measures used by the police and on any oversights they may have made. Carelessly, many also bandy about thoughts that the violence is instigated by ?provocateurs.?

Let?s get serious. The violent attacks on police and public property are orchestrated and executed by groups of extreme-leftist hooligans who brutally attack the police and anyone else who happens to cross their path.

The police are able to make an arrest every once in a while, but the limitations of the law and fear of the judicial authorities lead to their immediate release.

The problem of what to do with these groups, however, needs to be addressed because they destroy public and private property, they drag the country?s name through the mud and they scare away thousands of tourists. Political parties who have expressed sympathy toward these groups and anyone else who comprehends the magnitude of the problem need to sit down and agree on a plan to stamp out the violence, because if these groups are allowed to act freely, the country will most certainly become ungovernable.

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