Across the world on a regular basis, there are mass protests against police violence, it is common practice to hear of police brutality, and racism plays a large part in their acts of violence. However it is not always racism at the root of this police violence, it is part and parcel of their training, restrain, be forceful, intimidate etc., and of course that feeling that they are the law, and above reproach. It was not racism that ended the life of teenager Alexis Grigoropoulos, it was police callous brutal arrogance.
Today, December 6th. 2020, marks the 12th anniversary of the murder of 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a Greek police officer. It was a Saturday evening and two teenagers are out in Exracheia Athens, having a coffee, a chat, a laugh, a police car passes, and according to who you read, the police officers came back on foot, there were words the police officer fires two bullets and young Alexis falls to the ground and dies on the street in the arms of his teenage friend Nikos Romanos. The police officer claimed that he fired his gun in the air to scare the boy and teach him a lesson, but those two “warning shots” ended the life of a teenager.
This brutal unnecessary killing of of a youth by the state's henchmen, brought a hurricane of mass protests across Greece, that lasted for months, and rightly so. Each year since, in Athens and other cities across Greece, people remember this brutal killing of a youth, and mark it with mass protests.
Epaminondas Korkoneas, the Greek cop who murdered young Alexis Grigoropoulos, was released from prison July 2019. His release follows a verdict of an appeals court in Lamia, central Greece. The court upheld the conviction of Korkoneas for the deadly shooting of Alexis Grigoropoulos, but reduced his sentence from life to 13 years in prison. He was released after serving the most of the reduced sentence. He is not a subject to a parole or any other restriction. Let's not forget, that it was the system that killed young Alexis, a system of authority, governance and control, a hierarchical system of power.
No comments:
Post a Comment