(Liberties on CIVICUS Monitor) On 6th and 7th December 2018 more than 100 people were detained in Athens and in Thessaloniki according to the authorities, following violent protests started by some of the protesters mobilised to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the fatal police shooting of a teenager in 2008. Some of the protesters reported to be anarchists clashed with police in Athens and Thessaloniki. In the Athens’ district of Exarchia where the teenager was killed, protesters set up a burning barricade and threw firebombs and rocks at anti-riot police. In Athens and Thesaloniki other protesters barricadingthemselves inside the universities in Athens Polytechnic and from Aristotle University Department of Philosophy reportedly attacked anti-riot police officers. Police used tear gas, stun grenades and a water cannon to control the riots.
New protest marches start in Greece on the 10th anniversary of the fatal police shooting of a teenager, hours after violent initial demonstrations where masked youths attacked police with firebombs and stones. https://t.co/cCUpOyagd8 pic.twitter.com/nQnglg4er7
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 6, 2018
On 14th December hundreds of people demonstrated in Thessaloniki against government efforts to end a decades-long dispute with neighbouring Macedonia over its name. Police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters who challenged the police.
In early January 2019, around 40 refugees housed in tents in the overcrowded Diavata camp protested their living conditions as temperatures dropped below freezing. The protesters burned tires and blocked a road outside the camp. Two people were injured in a fight that broke out after a truck driver attempted to break through the barricade. According to reports, four people were detained.