Demonstrations in Athens on Wednesday marked the ninth anniversary of the teenager’s death. 15-year-old Alexis was shot dead by one of the Special Guards in Exarchia, a neighborhood of central Athens known for its counter-culture vibe.
In a city often plagued by civil unrest, it is considered a hotspot for anarchists and would-be rebels; unsurprisingly, tensions between the police and local teens always run high. This has only been exacerbated by the country's youth unemployment rate, which has ebbed to just over 40 percent. At the height of the country's economic crisis in 2013, 60 percent of young Greeks were unemployed.
Every year people take to the streets to commemorate the boy's death – a ritual that invariably turns violent. Last year, masked youths clashed with fully-armed riot cops, and the police had to respond with tear gas.
Today, the protesters have vandalized properties, thrown stones and gasoline bombs and set cars on fire, but the riot police have not interfered yet.
Social media have shown that people still remember what happened that very day 9 years ago and it seems that the police will never be forgiven for that.
On 9th anniversary of 15 y/o Alexis Grigoropoulos' murder by Greek cop Korkoneas who shot him point blank in central Athens in front of his friends, Greek Police tweet a "never forget" commemoration of a policeman's 1990 death in a car crash. This is what the police is about. https://t.co/bPhf11qZCM
— Zoe Mavroudi (@zoemavroudi) 6 декабря 2017 г.
"Alexi, these nights are yours"#AlexisGrigoropoulos#neverforget#6Dec pic.twitter.com/jQWRJrotdL
— gizem altınordu (@gizelmutrib) 6 декабря 2017 г.
People have been posting pictures of Alexis and the photos made at the demonstration:
The guard who killed Grigoropoulos, Epaminondas Korkoneas, was found guilty of intentional homicide and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010. The second officer was charged with complicity.
