Protests erupt in Greece over teenager’s shooting in police chase

Police officer shoots a 16-year-old Roma in the head after he drives away from a petrol station without paying.

By Edward Era Barbacena

Violent protests have broken out in Greece’s second-largest city over the police shooting of a Roma boy after he allegedly filled his vehicle at a petrol station and drove off without paying.

The 16-year-old was being treated in critical condition at a Thessaloniki hospital. The officer who allegedly shot him in the head was arrested and suspended from duty, police in the northern city said.

The Greek police department said the youth had tried to ram officers in pursuit on motorbikes in his attempt to evade arrest.

About 1,500 people took part in a protest march organised by left-wing and anarchist groups in central Thessaloniki on Monday night.

Some smashed shops and threw Molotov cocktails at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

Police detained six people after the end of the march. Before that protest, about 100 Roma men set up barricades, blocking the main road outside the hospital where the boy was being treated, and set fire to rubbish cans.

Police had used stun grenades and tear gas earlier to disperse protesters throwing bottles at them outside the hospital.

Several hundred people also took part in a peaceful protest march in central Athens over the teen’s shooting as well as a past incident in which a Roma man also was shot during a police chase.

The demonstrators in Greece’s capital had a banner reading: “They shot them because they were Roma.”

Brief clashes broke out with police after the protest ended.

Earlier in the day, protesters and members of the teenager’s family had thrown rocks at riot police outside the hospital where the boy is receiving treatment before police responded by firing tear gas.