Alexis Grigoropoulos one year later

Protest marking the one year anniversary of the death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, the 15 year old youth who was shot by police, Athens, Greece. 06/12/2009.

As i’m writing these words I’m seriously and truly trying to find some reason to award some sort of legitimacy in the events which unfolded pretty much right before my eyes today, at the University Propylae (entrance) in the centre of Athens. In the words of House MD, "I’m trying, but I’m failing!"

The reason for this has nothing to do with the tens of thousands of people who gathered this morning in remembrance of a time when, ignited by the horrible act of the death of an innocent 15-year old boy, the disappointment of the country’s young people exploded with anger at a government who was ignoring them. Back then, anyone would be truly hard-pressed to argue against their expression, however violent – a year ago today, throwing rocks, setting fires, even destroying everything around them was...well, in so many ways, justified.

I am not afraid to admit it: last year when I was walking amidst the devastation, I felt I was among people who were right, who were fighting for something.

Not this year. I was there, right at the entrance of the university where a few hard core extremists, some even apparently imported from other countries, proceeded to systematically, with calculated precision and following a pre-designed plan, destroy the university building’s main entrance, ply away slabs of marble from the surrounding plaza and break them into handy, convenient missiles and arm themselves with anger and violence, not because they were angry at something, but because they were planning to become angry at the way the police was going to react when they would start throwing those pieces of marble at them. It was truly the birth of a vicious cycle, right there, in front of everyone’s eyes.

And that was what made today’s episodes nothing more than a mockery of all that rage I could not but support a year ago. People came armed with sledgehammers and chisels, with preprepared Molotov cocktails not as a reaction to a police force who had treated them unfairly and killed one of their own, but as means of provoking worst actions which would then, in turn, justify their vandalism. They broke into the university to claim asylum for the things they were going to do. And that simply is not right. It taints rather than fosters the true fighting spirit of all the other thousands of people who marched this year.

So no, this year I completely failed to sympathise with those few hundreds who took away all meaning from this anniversary. In fact, if people could have seen, first hand, what I saw and hear what I heard, chances are there would be a different kind of clashes in Athens tonight.

However, having said all this, I need to say something else: the absence of the police last year resulted in a city in flames for 3 days and back then, everyone agreed they handled it badly. I was honestly expecting something better this year. But once again, the police managed to completely and utterly fumble the ball. Badly. They reacted forcefully very, very early in the day, with dozens of flash-bang and chemical grenades, further igniting the misguided mischief which was brewing among the people. Sure, some may indeed argue that at least this time the damages will be significantly less. Okay. Some may even argue that the force was, in a purely preventative way, justified to contain the very people I wrote about earlier. Yea, I guess. But they could have chosen a different way. They would have simply stood their ground. They could have been there, solid, patient and calm. They could have realised that few hundred mischief makers are not enough to taint everyone – they are not enough to create havoc. Most often they need the help of the police. And this time, they got it.

Protest marking the one year anniversary of the death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, the 15 year old youth who was shot by police, Athens, Greece. 06/12/2009.

As i’m writing these words I’m seriously and truly trying to find some reason to award some sort of legitimacy in the events which unfolded pretty much right before my eyes today, at the University Propylae (entrance) in the centre of Athens. In the words of House MD, "I’m trying, but I’m failing!"

The reason for this has nothing to do with the tens of thousands of people who gathered this morning in remembrance of a time when, ignited by the horrible act of the death of an innocent 15-year old boy, the disappointment of the country’s young people exploded with anger at a government who was ignoring them. Back then, anyone would be truly hard-pressed to argue against their expression, however violent – a year ago today, throwing rocks, setting fires, even destroying everything around them was...well, in so many ways, justified.

I am not afraid to admit it: last year when I was walking amidst the devastation, I felt I was among people who were right, who were fighting for something.

Not this year. I was there, right at the entrance of the university where a few hard core extremists, some even apparently imported from other countries, proceeded to systematically, with calculated precision and following a pre-designed plan, destroy the university building’s main entrance, ply away slabs of marble from the surrounding plaza and break them into handy, convenient missiles and arm themselves with anger and violence, not because they were angry at something, but because they were planning to become angry at the way the police was going to react when they would start throwing those pieces of marble at them. It was truly the birth of a vicious cycle, right there, in front of everyone’s eyes.

And that was what made today’s episodes nothing more than a mockery of all that rage I could not but support a year ago. People came armed with sledgehammers and chisels, with preprepared Molotov cocktails not as a reaction to a police force who had treated them unfairly and killed one of their own, but as means of provoking worst actions which would then, in turn, justify their vandalism. They broke into the university to claim asylum for the things they were going to do. And that simply is not right. It taints rather than fosters the true fighting spirit of all the other thousands of people who marched this year.

So no, this year I completely failed to sympathise with those few hundreds who took away all meaning from this anniversary. In fact, if people could have seen, first hand, what I saw and hear what I heard, chances are there would be a different kind of clashes in Athens tonight.

However, having said all this, I need to say something else: the absence of the police last year resulted in a city in flames for 3 days and back then, everyone agreed they handled it badly. I was honestly expecting something better this year. But once again, the police managed to completely and utterly fumble the ball. Badly. They reacted forcefully very, very early in the day, with dozens of flash-bang and chemical grenades, further igniting the misguided mischief which was brewing among the people. Sure, some may indeed argue that at least this time the damages will be significantly less. Okay. Some may even argue that the force was, in a purely preventative way, justified to contain the very people I wrote about earlier. Yea, I guess. But they could have chosen a different way. They would have simply stood their ground. They could have been there, solid, patient and calm. They could have realised that few hundred mischief makers are not enough to taint everyone – they are not enough to create havoc. Most often they need the help of the police. And this time, they got it.

Protest marking the one year anniversary of the death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, the 15 year old youth who was shot by police, Athens, Greece. 06/12/2009.

As i’m writing these words I’m seriously and truly trying to find some reason to award some sort of legitimacy in the events which unfolded pretty much right before my eyes today, at the University Propylae (entrance) in the centre of Athens. In the words of House MD, "I’m trying, but I’m failing!"

The reason for this has nothing to do with the tens of thousands of people who gathered this morning in remembrance of a time when, ignited by the horrible act of the death of an innocent 15-year old boy, the disappointment of the country’s young people exploded with anger at a government who was ignoring them. Back then, anyone would be truly hard-pressed to argue against their expression, however violent – a year ago today, throwing rocks, setting fires, even destroying everything around them was...well, in so many ways, justified.

I am not afraid to admit it: last year when I was walking amidst the devastation, I felt I was among people who were right, who were fighting for something.

Not this year. I was there, right at the entrance of the university where a few hard core extremists, some even apparently imported from other countries, proceeded to systematically, with calculated precision and following a pre-designed plan, destroy the university building’s main entrance, ply away slabs of marble from the surrounding plaza and break them into handy, convenient missiles and arm themselves with anger and violence, not because they were angry at something, but because they were planning to become angry at the way the police was going to react when they would start throwing those pieces of marble at them. It was truly the birth of a vicious cycle, right there, in front of everyone’s eyes.

And that was what made today’s episodes nothing more than a mockery of all that rage I could not but support a year ago. People came armed with sledgehammers and chisels, with preprepared Molotov cocktails not as a reaction to a police force who had treated them unfairly and killed one of their own, but as means of provoking worst actions which would then, in turn, justify their vandalism. They broke into the university to claim asylum for the things they were going to do. And that simply is not right. It taints rather than fosters the true fighting spirit of all the other thousands of people who marched this year.

So no, this year I completely failed to sympathise with those few hundreds who took away all meaning from this anniversary. In fact, if people could have seen, first hand, what I saw and hear what I heard, chances are there would be a different kind of clashes in Athens tonight.

However, having said all this, I need to say something else: the absence of the police last year resulted in a city in flames for 3 days and back then, everyone agreed they handled it badly. I was honestly expecting something better this year. But once again, the police managed to completely and utterly fumble the ball. Badly. They reacted forcefully very, very early in the day, with dozens of flash-bang and chemical grenades, further igniting the misguided mischief which was brewing among the people. Sure, some may indeed argue that at least this time the damages will be significantly less. Okay. Some may even argue that the force was, in a purely preventative way, justified to contain the very people I wrote about earlier. Yea, I guess. But they could have chosen a different way. They would have simply stood their ground. They could have been there, solid, patient and calm. They could have realised that few hundred mischief makers are not enough to taint everyone – they are not enough to create havoc. Most often they need the help of the police. And this time, they got it.