Greek streets heat up as thousands remember teen's tragic police encounter
Athens saw crowd of 5000 people marking a teens death by police that happened 16 years ago. Peaceful march turned into clashes with police as some protesters started fires in citys Exarchia area
Around 5000 people walked Athens streets on Dec 6th to remember Alexandros Grigoropoulos - a 15-year old who got shot by police (marking 16 years since that day)
The march went through Exarchias area where the un-armed teen lost his life; some protesters later started making trouble: setting trash bins on fire throwing gas-bombs at officers. Police used tear-gas to control the situation
Security was tight that day with lots of police-officers watching the streets; they picked-up more than 60 people and arrested 8 of them for causing problems
The original incident from 08ʼ caused huge problems in Athens - people were really mad and showed it: breaking store-windows stealing stuff and burning cars. These riots didnt stop for many weeks‚ making it one of the biggest street-fights Greece has seen in its modern-day history
The yearly march (which always happens in Exarchia) shows how this event still affects Greek society; its become a symbol of youth-police relations in the country
