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Water jets and colored bullets for the protesting Greeks starting with September

04 August 2011 / 07:08:15  GRReporter
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Cameras on patrol cars and motorcycles will start going around major cities in Greece after the adoption of the new law to control the protests. Besides these the police will replace the old well known to the Greeks tear gas with jets of water to disperse the protests, and the Ministry of civil protection is even considering the introduction of special weapons with colored paintball type bullets to fight the aggressive anarchists.

From 2008 onwards Athens and Thessaloniki became the major news for the world news agencies with the constant protests and violent clashes between police and various community groups. Whether they are the result of provocation or just a common manifestation of mass anger, the protests became more frequent in Greece and besides the destruction of the remnants of the positive image of the Mediterranean country, they proved particularly costly, both for the public and private sector.

 "We abolish the ruling remaining from the junta, which defines the legal framework of the individual right to organize mass meetings in public. We have prepared a mature draft that will be introduced for public discussion. Threre will be invited representatives from the scientific community and all public organizations" said the Minister of Justice Miltiadis Papaioannou. He insisted that the current regulatory framework must be modernized in order to ensure the democratic right of citizens for a peaceful protest without being threatened by the provocative actions of a few small groups of people.

After the recent mass protests on 28th and 29th of June this year, threre were distructions around the city center, which cost the state 600 thousand euro and losses for unrealized sales in the commercial industry, hotels and restaurants are incalculable. Civil Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis condemned not only the behavior of anarchist organizations during the last major Greek protest, but also of the policemen.

In the June riots, when the law on the introduction of the medium-term rehabilitation program was adopted after the final reading, the spirits arouse more than usual. Some policemen were caught throwing stones in response to the protesting crowd without following the instructions of their commanders. The chemicals used for dispersing the crowds exceeded almost 10 times the norm from other protests. A lot of the tear gas and the other suffocating bombs turned out that have expired, and the police never revealed the exact composition of the chemicals used to quell riots. Group of citizens filed a complaint against police violence after the events, but the problem still remains.

The new bill provides that starting with September the police for riot control in Greece will use water jets instead of tear gas to disperse violent protesters. Most often along the rallies and protests there always are representatives of anarchist movements and others from the organized hooliganism (members of fan clubs of various football teams), who are the main opponents of police in urban warfare in the Greek capital. After the introduction of the paintball guns used during protests, they will be easy to distinguish among the crowd if the police have a good sight.

Tags: Society protests tear gas Greece water jets
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