Traffic regulations planned for Grigoropoulos anniversary rallies
Extraordinary traffic regulations will be put in place on various roads in the center of Athens during the afternoon and evening hours on Friday, December 6, due to the rallies and marches announced to mark the 16h anniversary of the murder of teenager Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a police officer in Exarchia.
The regulations will be implemented gradually and depending on the traffic conditions.
The Attica Traffic Police Directorate said it has planned measures to facilitate traffic in the wider area of central Athens. Police are appealing to drivers to avoid driving and parking their vehicles in the area of the marches, for their convenience and to avoid additional traffic problems.
The killing of Grigoropoulos, 15, killing sparked a week of some of the worst riots Greece has ever known.
On the night of December 6, 2008, hours after Grigoropoulos was shot by police special guard Epameinondas Korkoneas, thousands took to the streets of Athens, torching cars and smashing window shops and looting. Two years later, Korkoneas was sentenced to life imprisonment but was later released by an appeal court.
The 2008 riots, which were also fueled by anger over unemployment and economic hardship in a prelude to the decade-long debt crisis, lasted for weeks.
Last year, approximately 4,000 police officers flanked the commemoration marches, while helicopters and drones were dispatched to monitor the city. Water cannons were also put on standby if the protests became violent, as they had done in the past.
Kathimerini
