Following the murder of a 15 year by a policeman Saturday night, the entire country has plunged into chaos.
You can watch the ongoing riots, which seem about to enter their fourth day here. The commentary is in Greek I am afraid.
I just watched the main christmas tree, in front of parliament go up in flames. Running battles are taking place all over downtown Athens. Numerous buildings are burning out of control. So much tear gas has been released that the general population is reporting to emergency rooms.
The general incompetence and cowardice of the authorities and the police has allowed the situation to get out of control.
Sorry for the brevity.
Update: Some more details:
The story is that the pair of policemen involved had been threatened earlier by a group of about 30 youths. They received orders to back off which they disregarded and moved again towards the group. Taunts were exchanged and one of the policemen drew his weapon and fired three times at the group, killing Alexandros Grigiropoulos.
They initially tried to claim that they had fired in self-defense under direct assault and that the shots were all in the air or on the ground and that the bullet must have ricocheted off the tarmac or a balcony above and into the teenager. Given that the scene was witnessed by many people, this was counterproductive, since they all claim that the policeman actually aimed at the youths and there was no threat.
Anger has been building up for a while. A young Cypriot was beaten to within an inch of his life last year and the police involved were either acquitted or slapped on the wrist. Instances of torture and degrading treatment of immigrants were becoming widely reported. There has been an adversarial relationship between the police and young people since the junta of 1967-1974 which has not really improved.
What is happening tonight here is an explosion of pent-up anger at the police and the government, which is blamed for the deteriorating economic situation and for increasing inequality, coupled with the government's tactical decision not to vigorously defend the city.
More in comments.