'Why I'm demonstrating in Athens?'

CITIZEN JOURNALISM
By Premesh Chandran

ATHENS, Greece - An 18 year old student explains why the students are protesting against the govt.

"The riots in Athens, Greece ... started on Saturday, after the police shot a 15 year old (in a confrontation between a group of kids and the police). The boy died and the coroner has ruled it as homicide.

Since Saturday there have been daily rioting (burning of cars, buildings and confrontations with police). It's happening about 1km from where we are staying, mainly around the Parliament house, the police headquarters, the Supreme Court. The students are camped out in their university campus, which the police are not allowed to enter. They've been preparing Molotov cocktails during the day and going up against the police in the night.

But apart from the affected areas, life goes on, Streets are busy, people moving around as normal, with the occasional police and ambulance spotted. Yesterday, Roby (from Seapa) and I walked down to the Parliament house where the next 'attack' was planned. Full of riot police, "fire engines" etc, similar to Malaysian FRU. Although we could hear the crowd getting closer, the police seemed relatively calm; I suppose they know the routine."

Premesh Chandran, CEO of Malaysiakini is attending the Global Forum on Media Development, in Athens, Greece.