Riot police ordered to step back
Riot police who stood back as members of the communist union PAME and a group of hooded attackers clashed outside Parliament on Thursday were under orders to do so, sources told Sunday?s Kathimerini.
The fighting broke out during a protest against austerity measures after some demonstrators objected to PAME members standing their ground in front of Parliament.
Sources said riot police had been told not to react to attacks and to avoid engaging with protesters. It appears this more ?hands-off? approach was the idea of former riot squad chief Charalambos Christofareizis, who was recently appointed as an adviser to Citizens? Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis. The latter had been criticized heavily for the riot police?s actions during protests.
Sources said PAME members also asked the police not to intervene after the fighting broke out, fearing their presence would increase the tension.
A 53-year-old PAME member, Dimitris Kotzaridis, died following the clashes. Doctors said he suffered a heart attack but the results of toxicology tests, due in about a week, will show whether inhalation of tear gas played a part in the construction worker?s death.
Thousands of mourners attended the funeral of the father of two on Saturday. A Communist Party (KKE) office in Petralona, southern Athens, was firebombed on the same day.
