Photography Student James Carpenter from Beverley was in Athens and took to the streets to capture the events as they unfolded, and this is what James had to say about his experience of the Athens Riots.
On December 6th in 2008, an innocent 15 year old boy, Alexis Grigoropoulos, was shot dead by the police in the Exarchia district of central Athens. The riots that ensued engulfed the city in the worst bout of violence the city had ever seen.
Youths threw petrol bombs, burned cars, assaulted police officers and smashed shop windows. The event completely damaged the already shaky relationship between the people of the city and its law enforcement.
“When I visited the city this year, my stay overlapped with anniversary of this event. The first thing I noticed was a huge police presence around the area of my hotel – a motorcade of at least 50 police motorbikes.
“Then riot police began to spill out of every alleyway below. I picked up my camera and got some background information from reception, then headed out into the streets. As we walked further into the centre of the protest, the police presence got heavier and I reached a confrontation between riot forces and a group of youths.”
“I took out my camera and began to take photographs, well aware of the implications of irritating such a volatile police force. After a few photographs an officer began to run toward us, so we stepped over toward the youths – at which point we were tear-gassed. An unpleasant experience similar to rubbing chilli’s in your eyes, throat and nose. We went back to the hotel to clean out our eyes and recover.”
“It was in the evening that I got anxious to photograph more – I wanted to see more. We spotted a police helicopter circling in the distance with its beam trained on what I perceived to be the Exarchia district, known for protests and violence. We followed the beam for about 45 minutes, until we reached a police blockade, which we bypassed down a side street.”
“When we reached the place where the young boy was shot a year ago people were paying their respects at a memorial, with flowers and a picture of him. After spending a few minutes there the crowd marched on noisily into Exarchia Square.”
“Very shortly after this riot police blocked every exit, boxing me and the protesters in and the protesters began to throw bricks and petrol bombs at the police, overturning every bin and setting it alight.”
“After photographing the violence for a few hours we tried to sneak out of the square, only to be pressed into a corner by two police officers, who demanded to know where we had been and what we were up to.”
After making up a few excuses, we were “politely” told – “enjoy the rest of your trip, and make it a short one.”
View the pictures taken by James by clicking here
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