When the police should know better

I am not surprised at all with the events in Greece this week. The reaction to the brutal killing of a teenager by the police has grown to the point of demonstrators inspiring the Unions to call a national strike that is halting the entire country. This might be seen as a ‘bit too much’ by some, but I believe it simply shows that Greeks have just had enough. Enough of paying more and making less than in most other EU countries. Enough of having citizens abused by those who are supposed to protect them.

While there are lots of brutal things happening in this world these days and thousands of kids dying everyday to unfair reasons, the fact is that few people do something about it, which means that the authorities can get away with just about anything.

Having lived in Cyprus, surrounded by the Greek culture for many years, I have to say that I feel pretty much the same frustration as all those rioting in Athens, Thessaloniki, and other Greek cities.

I’ve seen videos of youngsters beaten up by Cypriot policemen. I’ve seen drunken policemen in uniform. I know a woman who reported her neighbor to the ‘confidential’ police number for drug use, just to learn a few days later that a policeman tipped the drug abuser about it – she had to move to another city following the threats she received from her neighbor as a result.

I sometimes wonder if this is really what Third World countries look up to when they want to become more like a "European Union member nation".

Because they already look pretty much the same to me.