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Greece: Protests held to remember police victim

06 December 2014 21:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A series of rallies and protests were held on Saturday throughout Greece in commemoration of the six-year anniversary of the killing of Alexis Grigoropoulos by two policemen in 2008, APA reports quoting AA.

Grigoropoulos was killed in the Athens district of Exarhia, and his death sparked riots both in the Greek capital and in other European cities.

The protests are also in support of jailed anarchist Nikos Romanos, a friend of Grigoropoulos, who witnessed his death. Since the death of his friend, Romanos has become a symbol of rage against authority.

The 21-year-old Romanos, a convicted bank robber, has sought to attend university classes. Authorities denied his request, and he has since maintained hunger strike for 27 days.

A march was held in the central Athens, starting at 2:30 local time (1230GMT) outside Athens University on Panepistimiou Street. The march was without incident. Minor incidents occurred in a march in Thessaloniki.

Over 5,000 people attended the march in Athens, including students, educators, members of main left opposition party SYRIZA, and its youth party, members of the left-wing student union affiliated with the Communist Party of Greece, ANTARSYA and other groups. Slogans at the march focused on Grigoropoulos, and Romanos, as well as on current economic and political affairs.

The city resembled a fortress, with more than 7,000 police officers deployed.