Athens Public prosecutor and Greek Police investigate at least two police officers who beat a citizen during routine lockdown checks in Nea Smyrni suburb of south Athens on Sunday. With a lukewarm statement, Minister for Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysohoidis said that “unwarranted violence is not justified, we are absolute in it.” He added that the Citizens Ombudsman was informed about the beating of the citizen.
Referring to the internal administrative investigation Chrysochoidis said that “the investigation will be completed soon, in order to highlight and assign disciplinary and criminal responsibilities.”
Next to Police administrative inquiry probe against the officer, the head of the Athens Prosecutor’s Office, Sotiria Papageorgakopoulou, ordered on Monday a preliminary investigation into reports of police misconduct.
Police said on Sunday that it was attacked by “30 people” but so far it has been not able to confirm this. On Monday, the official government through several ministers said that it was “40 people.”
Greek police terrorize common citizens in #ΝεαΣμυρνη, Athens, an authoritarian practice that was normalized during the coronavirus pandemic. Police brutality in Greece cannot be tolerated anymore… #ποναω pic.twitter.com/YReEvwIy9N
— Panos Iordanidis (@PanosIordan) March 8, 2021
The young man had reportedly protested when police officers were terrorizing two women with children during routine lockdown checks.
More details on what happened on Sunday here: Police beats peaceful citizens during routine lockdown checks (videos)
Reaction by Police unions, fractions
While the government still tried to justify the beating by insisting on the “attack version” and defaming and discrediting the victim thus publicly given his name, some police officers are clearly disturbed by the incident. The Union general secretary pointed out that the steel expandable baton used against the young man is illegal.
Spilios Kriketos general secretary of the Police Union in Attica told Mega TV : “I don’t care what preceded, I’m not interested, it insults and shames all police officers. It is not our mission to be like that. These are not pictures of the Police but of vagrancy. The baton is a metal one and this is illegal.”
He stressed that the citizen should feel ‘safety’ when he sees policemen “not horror.”
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I condemn police violence against ordinary citizens.
I condemn citizens’ violence against the Covid rules….
Why do some Police feel the need to hit unarmed people when a simple calming negotiation would be enough. It is a short step to the abuse of power and should be dealt with quickly and firmly.
It would be unfortunate if we had to make comparisons to American cops!jon
There is never smoke without fire…. Sometimes a good hiding works better than negotiating with thick and ignorant offenders of Covid rules who endanger the rest of the population….
Yours is a fascist comment. There is nothing else to say about someone who posts this sort of crap.
Like Albert Einstein said: “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe”.
You shouldn’t take a word like “fascism” into your mouth if you – apparently – do not know the intrinsic meaning of it, because it invalidates the essence of it in situations where there is a real case of fascism.
I did not accuse you of stupidity: I accused of displaying a fascist mentality in your comments. Do you want a synonym? Nasty; authoritarian; inhumane; anti-democratic.
The fact is that your comments do fit the mentality of fascists in the past, and if you do not understand this, I can recommend some historical and political science texts to explain it to you.
However, I am quite clear in my own mind that you do advocate fascist governance, and are perfectly aware of your fascist opinions. Accusing me of stupidity is, of course, exactly what fascists would say to those opposing their evil.
So in your political correct thinking (which has ruined societies everywhere in the world), it’s fascistic if the police is enforcing the law but it’s perfectly normal that civilians disobey the Covid rules, thereby indirectly killing other people. I am sure you agree with police using force (batons, tear gas) to disperse peaceful protesters in cases which you don’t support because they don’t fit in your political scheme….