Greece, police crack down on protests after shooting Roma boy

ATHENS - There were large and violent protests in Thessaloniki, northern Greece after a policeman on the same day shot in the head of a 16-year-old Roma boy who had walked away from a gas station without paying 20 euros. The boy was driving a pickup truck and was being chased by a patrol of policemen on motorcycles, alerted by gas station employees. The boy is currently in a Thessaloniki hospital in serious condition, while the policeman suspected of shooting him has been suspended from duty and arrested on charges of attempted murder.

About 100 people from the Roma community blocked the main road outside the hospital where the boy is hospitalized, pulling up barricades and setting fire to dumpsters and garbage. On Monday night in Thessaloniki some 1,500 people took part in a protest march organized by leftist and anarchist groups, which soon turned violent: protesters smashed stores and threw petrol bombs at police, who tried to quell the demonstration with tear gas and stun grenades.

In contrast, in Athens, the capital, there was a peaceful march in which protesters accused the policeman of shooting the boy because he was Roma: Greek authorities are often accused of racism against Roma people by community members and human rights activists. In recent years there have been other cases of Roma people killed or injured in clashes with police.

Greece: barge with hundreds of migrants arrives in port
A boat with hundreds of migrants on board was towed into the port of the island of Crete… after a dramatic rescue on the high seas complicated by strong winds, the Greek Coast Guard announced. The asylum seekers “were towed into port, they have yet to disembark,” said a Coast Guard spokeswoman, who had earlier estimated there were up to 500 people aboard the vessel. The rescue operations, coordinated by Greek authorities, took place 18 nautical miles south of Paleochora, and two cargo ships, an oil tanker and two Italian fishing vessels also intervened at the scene.

The vessel was then towed into Paleochora harbor by a fishing boat. More and more overcrowded and oversized boats, such as sailboats, are getting into trouble or shipwrecked south of Crete or the Peloponnese due to increased travel along the route from the Turkish coast directly to Italy to avoid rejections by the Greek Coast Guard. “Eighty percent of migrants sailing from Turkey today aim to arrive in Italy,” Greek Immigration Minister Notis Mitarakis explained in an interview in recent days with broadcaster Skai. Since the beginning of October, at least 60 migrants have lost their lives as a result of shipwrecks in Greek waters.