The Greek Riots: Reporters at the Front Lines
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A protester and policeman clash in Thessaloniki.
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Several reporters and photographers covering the Greek riots have reported being deliberately hit by police batons and riot shields. Photo: Alexandros Michaillidis
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Riot police in Syntagma (Constitution) Square, June 29.
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Riot police fired more than 2,800 stun grenades into the crowd of 25,000. Journalist Manolis Kypraios lost his hearing here on June 15 after a policeman threw a stun grenade at him. Photo: Craig Wherlock
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Undercover police officers grab a trade unionist.
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According to a recent Reporters Without Borders report riot police are only trained for three months, and most don't know the laws under which they operate. Photo: Craig Wherlock, September 9
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Greek high school students burn pictures.
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High schools have yet to receive textbooks for the new school year. Teachers were told to use photocopies and DVDs in class while state printing presses attempt to catch up. Photo: Craig Wherlock
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A TV news program prepares for PM George Papandreou’s visit.
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Besides civilian mistrust of the government, Reporters Without Borders says, “a huge crisis of confidence has…arisen between Greeks and their media.” The public mistrusts the media, in part because ship owners and other wealthy magnates own the major groups. Photo: Craig Wherlock
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Photographer prepared to face tear gas in Thessaloniki.
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It is “impossible” for journalists to work without a gas mask and a helmet, but the equipment makes it hard to see blows and attacks coming. Only those working for news agencies can rely on having proper equipment, said Reporters without Borders. Photo: Efthymios Rafail Gourgouris
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Amnesty International condemned the police’s use of teargas.
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In Syntagma square, Police threw the gas into the entrance of the metro station, and a nearby emergency room. The president of the Athens Medical Association, George Patoulis, said that the teargas expired in 1979. Photo: Efthymios Rafail Gourgouris
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A photographer illuminated by riot fires.
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Greek unemployment is more than 16%, four out of ten graduates are out of work, soup kitchens serve thousands, and Greek suicide lines are “deluged” with calls. Reporters find themselves on the front lines of a political and economic war which could spread throughout the EU. Photo: Efthymios Rafail Gourgouris
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While covering anti-austerity protests and strikes in Athens and other Greek cities, journalists have been attacked by police and, in some cases, the protesters themselves. Police attack photographers and journalists for documenting attacks on protesters. Freelancers, bloggers, and foreign journalists have also been caught in the fray. Photographer Tatiana Bolari was punched in the face, freelance photographer Pascualino Serinelli received baton blows to the legs, and photographer Manolis Kypraios has brought a lawsuit against the state after losing his hearing in the blast of a stun grenade. Kypraios said the policeman deliberately threw the grenade after the reporter showed his press credentials. With disabilities too great to continue reporting, Kypraios lost his job.
Others have complained of beatings, broken teeth and cameras, and being deliberately hit with riot shields. Despite the dangerous atmosphere, photographers have continued to document the challenges of reporting and photographing in the midst of Greece’s economic uproar.
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