I think I'm going to move. The crime rate in my neighbourhood has been rising steadily, the local park is a drugs supermarket and I need to feel that the police are on hand to protect us law abiding citizens in these dangerous times.
So. I've decided to go live in Aristotelous Square, as near the Christmas tree as possible. For those not from Thessaloniki, Aristotelous is in the centre and its pretty tree is being guarded day and night by at least 15 cops, more than the entire neighbourhood of 40,000 people I live in.
Nice to know in these difficult times the forces of law and order realise where their priorities lay.
Yesterday I wrote about the brutal beating of a demonstrator in front of hundreds of witnesses by plainclothes police "officers". Now, no police force has a monopoly on virtue or vice and the actions of a few violent individuals should not be the yardstick by which the whole force is judged. On the other hand when the police force representative goes on live TV to threaten the law professor who witnessed the whole event all that goes out the window. It was not enough that the idiot questioned the academic's patriotism or called him a liar, no he had to go on and threaten him on live TV.
This brings bad memories for many Greeks of the times in the past when the police were free to do anything they chose, knowing full well that their actions would always be covered politically under the cover of "law and order" or because they were for the "good of the state".
"Η ανακοίνωση της ΓΑΔΘ σημειώνει ότι η σύλληψή του έγινε περίπου στις 22:30 της Παρασκευής, όταν επιχείρησε να φύγει από το χώρο, και αναγνωρίστηκε από αστυνομικούς με πολιτικά, οι οποίοι έκαναν γνωστή την ιδιότητά τους και του ζήτησαν τα στοιχεία του. Ωστόσο, ο 24χρονος, όπως αναφέρεται στην ανακοίνωση, «στη θέα των αστυνομικών και επιχειρώντας προφανώς να διαφύγει» έπεσε πάνω σε μηχανάκι και σε ζαρντινιέρα, ενώ επιτέθηκε και στους αστυνομικούς που επιχείρησαν να τον ακινητοποιήσουν."
Translation
The Thessaloniki police department's press release notes that (the student's) arrest happened on Friday at about 10.30pm when he attempted to leave the area and was identified by plainclothes police officers who identified themselves and asked to see his ID. However, the 24 year old, as the report states, "in full view of the police officers, he apparently attempted to escape and fell over a moped and into a window box. Also he attacked police officers who were attempting to immobilise him."
Well, as anything who saw the TV footage will testify this is absolutely rubbish, unless you count being kicked in the face and punched in the stomach while you're held in an arm lock, "an attack upon an officer of the law"
I'm a teacher, originally from England, now living in Northern Greece. I also blog, photograph and tweet about the current economic and refugee crisis.
