Riots in Greece. Why? (condo, college, military)

[pirate_lafitte]

Greek Riots Show No Signs of Abating - Yahoo! News.

The riots in Paris got alot of publicity, but I had to go to Yahoo! to find out about the riots in Greece. It makes me wonder if there are some underlying problems in Greece that I don't know about. In every riot I have heard of, someone gets shot and killed by the police and then rioting begins. It happened in this instance in Greece.

[New Jersey Knight]

Rioting, in this case, is something I don't understand. I mean, I understand that these Greek rioters (mostly students, from what I understand) see the shooting of this young boy as symbolic of a corrupt or faulty police force. Knowing next to nothing about Greek politics, I can't say if this is the case or not. Still, why is it that these people think that burning and looting cars and buildings is going to lead to greener pastures? The riots of the late 60's in the US led to the decline of big cities in the 70's and 80's; some cities still haven't recovered from that.

[Geography Freak]

"Boohoo, the police are so nasty...By the way, I like that plasma TV - I think I'll break the window and take it..."

Don't expect much rationality form the mob.

[Sandy Nelson]

The riots appear to be an expression of the widespread public dissatisfaction and distrust in the government. Corruption and shady dealings in Greek politics and public administration have frustrated the citizens. Many recent scandals and mismanaged events like the large forest fires last year have resulted in a huge distrust of the Greek society in their political system. The country is basically ruled by a few family clans, and differences between the various parties are hardly detectable. I'm in no way condoning the riots, vandalism and violence, but I understand the frustration level. I don't have a solution and I hope that the situation will calm down soon.

[At1WithNature]

because they actually have balls and self respect to stand up for injustice. something overweight and lazy americans know nothing of.

[Hasdrubal]

Originally Posted by At1WithNature

because they actually have balls and self respect to stand up for injustice. something overweight and lazy americans know nothing of.

well, do you remember Seattle '99? Those were some of the most violent riots I can recall.

[At1WithNature]

Originally Posted by Hasdrubal

well, do you remember Seattle '99? Those were some of the most violent riots I can recall.

oh, yeah...those were the days. pre-george w, pre-9/11, pre-patriot act, etc.

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by Geography Freak

"Boohoo, the police are so nasty...By the way, I like that plasma TV - I think I'll break the window and take it..."

Don't expect much rationality form the mob.

Kind of the reasoning behind the electoral college.

[Socratess]

The same all over the world there are good and bad people. Some destroy or/and kill and some do the best they can.We all know it..it's not communism or capitalism or socialism or Christians or Muslims or whatever it's just us........... humans.Socratess

[BereniceUK]

You can go back to 1946 in Greece, immediately post-WWII, when Russia attempted to influence elections in order to have Greece as another satellite country. The right wing Monarchist supporting party won the election and there then ensued a civil war.

In the early 1970s there was a military coup and the monarchy was exiled.

Following a return to civilian rule there have been outbursts of violence aimed at foreign nationals - a British diplomat was assassinated in the early 90s.
By the way, please understand that I'm saying all this from memory and there's probably lots I've missed out. But you can see that Greece doesn't have a great record of democracy and internal peace in the last 50-odd years.