"Greek rioting taps into wider discontent; Poor economy, prospects cited" by Elena Becatoros, Associated Press | December 13, 2008
ATHENS - Protesters took to the streets of the capital for the seventh consecutive day yesterday, vowing to maintain pressure on the government with both peaceful demonstrations and violent clashes.
Youths pelted riot police with rocks and firebombs. One officer, covered in blazing gasoline, flailed as his colleagues rushed to extinguish the flames. He was ultimately unhurt.
Do you see whose who?
Demonstrators in France and Germany put on shows of support for the Greek protests, which are driven in part by the widening gap between rich and poor in a country where the minimum monthly wage is $850, graduates have poor job prospects, and the government is making painful changes to the pension system.
"It is clear that this wave of discontent will not die down. This rage is spreading because the underlying causes remain," said veteran left-wing politician Leonidas Kyrkos. "These protests are a vehicle with which people can claim their rights and shatter indifference and false promises."
Beleaguered Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis ruled out early elections, however, saying from Brussels that the country needs a steady hand to steer it through the global financial crisis:
"We must make a very clear distinction between the overwhelming majority of the Greek people, who of course have every right to express their sorrow at the death of a young boy, and the minority of extremists who take refuge in acts of extreme violence."
Why does that RIDICULOUS LIE of a COVER STORY have to be repeated?
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Hundreds of businesses have been burned or smashed and looted in cities across Greece. Banks in particular have been targeted, with terrified employees fleeing as protesters smashed recently replaced windows of branches along central Syntagma Square.
Now why would they do that to banks over the death of a kid?
"Financial targets are being attacked, like banks, to prove a point of economic oppression . . . some people hardly have enough to eat," said Constantinos Sakkas, a 23-year-old protest organizer. "We're against the attacks on small stores," he added. "The purpose of all this is for our demands to be heard. This just isn't for us. It's for everyone."
In Paris, about 300 demonstrators gathered outside the Greek Embassy. Some scuffled with police and spilled over onto the Champs-Elysees, partly blocking Paris's most famous avenue, some ripping out streetlights from the center of the road as they moved along.
Outside the embassy, demonstrators shouted "Murderous Greek state!" and "A police officer, a bullet; that is social justice!" Hundreds of protesters also marched through Berlin's Kreuzberg neighborhood, behind a van broadcasting messages of solidarity with the Greek protesters.
Earlier in the week, protesters in Spain, Denmark, and Italy smashed shop windows, pelted police with bottles, and attacked banks, while in France, cars were set ablaze outside the Greek consulate in Bordeaux, where protesters scrawled graffiti warning about a looming "insurrection."Smells like a PRELUDE and PRETEXT to a POLICE STATE and MARTIAL LAW, doesn't it?
And CUI BONO, Gladio?
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