08 December 2003

Life lost

someone i kind of knew years ago was shot in the head three days ago when the car he was in refused to stop to the signs of a special police squad known as "special guards" in crete, greece.

as far as i can tell, three or four friends the age of twenty-five (the poor kid was 22 years old) had driven to a small village to buy some weed, and on their way back to heraklion which is also where i live, they were given the "stop or we shoot the fuck out of you" sign by those "special guards". they didn't stop in fear that an arrest would ruin their lives, carreers, and humiliate their families (which is the reality here in greece even in cases where the so-called criminals possess no more than a couple of grams of grass), and a young man is now lying in a hospital bed, with his brain dead and his life flowing away from his body. what a shame. so much for justice.

they said that the three "special guards" involved will be eventually trialed and that the police headquarters have demanded their immediate removal from active duty. they police also said that a disciplinary committee will investigate the issue and that penalties will be harsh if it turns out that the "special guards" shot to kill while it was obvious that the kids in the car were not armed and could be stopped by different means (by shooting the tires)

obviously enraged by the outrageous event, a bunch of friends and relatives of the dead kid, rushed to the local police station where they turned seven police vehicles upside down, smashed every single one of the building's windows with stones, and battered a narc who happenned to be at the gate. six of them were later captured (i don't know when or how), and will be driven to the district attorney tomorrow. the whole place, which is four blocks away from my home, looked like a warzone this morning....

my take on this: apart from the fact that the majority of "special guards" are mean bastards going ecstatic at the sight of fresh blood, the saddest thing in my opinion is that someone lost his life because he was smoking pot - something that 99% of all people admitted to college do. if the car had stopped, he would have been put in jail, with his record fucked and his employment horizons severely narrowed. laws need to change even in a police state like greece. it's just not fair for anyone.

UPDATE

the poor kid was not a pot head, i was told. he was a semi-professional soccer player, and he was not the one driving the car. rumours of a vendetta having started are not unsubstantial, and many here in heraklion expect a circle of blood to begin any time now. what a waste...

UPDATE 2: CRETE IN A STATE OF CHAOS

Everone here in Crete is tensed about what's coming next. Last night, a biker-cop was attacked by a group of young people who had been protesting peacefully against police brutality outside the city hall of heraklion until she threatened to roll over a few teenagers when they didn't step aside for her. she's now hospitalised. the situation seems very much out of hand. earlier this afternoon, hundreds of people marched all over heraklion shouting "you who observe this march should better put some bullet-proof vests on coz the police is around". today, a friend went to the hespital where the clinically dead kid's life thread is sustained by machines to pay his respects to his family and had a brief chat with the kid's brother. he was obviously devastated and told him that his life's no longer important and that he will avenge his brother's murder. the kid will become an organ donor any time today as his family asked the doctors to uplug him. you should know that it's very easy to find a firearm or explosives in crete - a place where half the population possess non-registered weapons. vendetta is on the air and even the police seems frightened and with good reason. very ominous....in a nutshell, the entire island of crete is in a state of emotional turmoil, and the whole situation is very fragile.

FINAL UPDATE:

Iraklis Maragakis R.I.P. Farewell my friend. see you on the other side.

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