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Children aged between 14 and 17 years, mostly students and unemployed youths, have been caught in connection with the violent clashes during the procession in memory of Alexandros Grigoropoulos who was killed by a police bullet three years ago.

Shockingly, the group of hooded youths in Patras involved two 10-year-olds who participated in the clashes with police. As the photos clearly show, one of them was even holding a bottle, i.e. Molotov bomb, in hand.

On Tuesday evening, the two children had found themselves in front of an old building at the University of Patras together with a group of about 30 anarchists who began burning bins. Riot forces arrived at the place immediately. When the anarchists saw the police, they started throwing stones at them. Among them were the two 10-year-old boys, who also were aiming at the police and shouting slogans.

Those captured in Athens were charged with violations of public order, unprovoked injuries, resistance, abuse and violation of the law on weapons and explosives. Among the 21 people captured, were ten pupils, five students and four unemployed, and one of them stated he was a municipal employee. Eight of them were foreigners: three Germans, two Albanians, a Spaniard, a Portuguese and a Pole.

According to police, two retail stores, a bank branch and five bus stops were damaged during the riots. The marble facades of many stores were broken as well as the stairs of hotels and other buildings. There was also a robbery in a shop for clothes. In the street "battles" 27 policemen were injured and the total number of people captured was 46.

The left initiative "A ship for Gaza" expressed its dissatisfaction with the arrest of one of its members. "Our friend was in the office of the initiative and had come to cover the events within his work in the alternative internet Omnia TV," they said. Their message states that the man "is in the hands of the police, and the camera and footage have been seized. He was unreasonably charged with violation of order, violation of the law on weapons (for stones), involvement in a group throwing Molotov bombs and an attempt to cause bodily injury."

Seven of the participants in the clashes In Thessaloniki were captured. They are aged between 18 and 33 years and one of them is a Romanian citizen. The youths were captured on Tuesday evening near the School of Philosophy at the University of Thessaloniki. Yesterday, they were taken for questioning by the prosecutor, while dozens of their followers protested against their detention in front of the courthouse in Thessaloniki. The police announced that six policemen were injured during the clashes in the city. Three of them were hospitalized due to burns from Molotov bombs and fractures. Following a prosecutor’s order, two minors, who were captured during the pupils’ procession, were released.

At the same time, the state is forced to pay out of its pockets compensation to citizens whose property was destroyed in similar clashes. The Supreme Court has ruled that the treasury must pay the owners of an electronics shop € 34,000 and legitimate interest for the past five years. The shop is located next to the Athens Polytechnic. During clashes in the area, a truck full of a company’s goods was set on fire by Molotov bombs and burned.

The Court has ruled that the state is responsible because the relevant police authorities have not taken all measures to protect public property from damage or destruction.

Initially, the Administrative Court rejected the compensation claim, arguing that the police had not demonstrated indifference and therefore, there was no state responsibility. The decision of the Supreme Court, however, requires that it should pay double the amount. First, it should pay to repair the damage of its own and municipal property, and then, to compensate the affected private owners.

The court has not accepted the argument for the university asylum, which was in full force during the student elections in 1995 and prevented the police from entering the old Polytechnic, neither that stones and Molotov bombs prevented the police and firefighters from dispersing the young people, extinguishing the fires and protecting the sites in the region.

According to the judges, state authorities had not taken all measures to stop the clashes at the beginning or if it was not possible, to prevent rioters from entering the Polytechnic. Here, the court relied on the well-known tactics of participants in such conflicts to hide around university buildings in order for the university asylum to protect them. GRReporter recalls that the new law on higher education adopted earlier this year has cancelled the university asylum.