Major Rioting in Greece (12/22/08)

Sorry for the late start today folks...As usual, this post will be continually updated as news becomes available.

• Here's a report-back on a solidarity march and rally in Ankara, Turkey.

• Here's a report on vandalism in Milwaukee in solidarity with the Greek riots.

• Here are the Greeks once again setting a high bar for this type of action (under the fantastic headline "Cretan Attacks"): "Two banks and a car dealership were attacked early yesterday in Iraklion, Crete. Police said that assailants threw petrol bombs at a branch of the Pancretan Cooperative Bank at about 3 a.m. The branch was destroyed in the ensuing blaze. A branch of Alpha Bank was then attacked before the arsonists moved onto the car dealership. Nobody was injured in the attacks."

• Here's a report-back on some solidarity vandalism in Kansas City and a march in Portland.
  

• Here's a report-back from a solidarity march in St. Louis that got rowdy and ended with six arrests. And here's a video of some of the arrests from a local news affiliate.
  

• Greek police experts on Sunday carried out an on-site forensic investigation at the spot where Alexis Grigoropoulos was shot dead, trying to gather more evidence related to the case.

  The investigation lasted about two to three hours and was conducted in the presence of the 9th examining magistrate who is in charge of the case.

  Athens News Agency said that the additional specialized investigation, which seeks to find evidence to complement the findings of the ballistic report in light of eyewitness accounts claiming that the officer was aiming directly at the group of youths, was requested by lawyers representing the family.

• Here's some video of recent street fighting in Exarchia.

• Here's Occupied London's update on the current state of the Athens Polytechnic occupation:

  Last night was calm at the Polytechnic. As mainstream media report, the academic asylum at the campus has already been suspended - which means it is now entirely up to the police to decide if they will raid. Until recently, it used to be that the law, preventing the police and army from entering university grounds, could only be suspended after an explicit decision of the university senate. However, according to a voted amendment, an attorney general can also order its suspension should there be felonies committed in the university grounds and within 48 hours since this happens. Given that the most recent clashes with the police took place on Saturday night (Molotovs thrown against them: a felony) they have until tonight to attempt to raid the university, if they so decide...Meanwhile, the occupied GSEE (trade union) building was handed back to the GSEE yesterday, following a decision by the occupation’s assembly.

• Here's a video news report (in Greek) on yesterday's events.

• Here are some photos and on the ground info on the action in Germany.
  

• From Der Spiegel: While police and demonstraters continued to battle on the streets of Athens over the weekend, German police broke up a large sympathy protest after it grew violent.

  Scores of German riot police confronted an estimated 950 protesters in Hamburg over the weekend who were expressing their sympathy for student protesters in Greece by marching under the banner of "Solidarity is a weapon."

  Police reported that the protest actions -- which allegedly included numerous members of the far-left anarchist scene -- were broken up on Saturday after they escalated to rioting, with special police units and journalists being pelted with bottles, iron rods and fireworks. Four police officers were reported injured.Protest actions, some violent, also continued to bring chaos to the streets of Athens over the weekend as police battled riots and lawlessness sparked by the Dec. 6 police killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

  On Saturday, a memorial service to the slain boy turned violent and led to scattered groups of masked youths showering police with rocks and Molotov cocktails and igniting at least six police vehicles and numerous garbage containers. As black smoke lofted above the skyline of the vast city, heavily armed police broke up crowds of protesters with tear gas.

  Other incidents Saturday included the fire-bombing and destruction of a credit-reporting agency and clashes around the 18-meter-high (60-foot) Christmas tree in Syntagma Square between police and protesters trying to hang trash bags from its branches. The original tree was burned down by protesters on Dec. 8, the third day of riots, and replaced soon thereafter.