11 January 2021
Politico, 11 January 2021.
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"ATHENS — Greece’s capital is no stranger to clashes between protesters and police. But the pandemic, activists and opposition lawmakers say, has marked a turning point.
In recent months, reports of police brutality have risen. With Greece under a second lockdown since November — after being hit harder by the second wave of the coronavirus than the first — demonstrations are banned, and police have enforced that ban with what many describe as excessive use of force.
Human rights groups and opposition parties are now warning that under the pretext of fighting the pandemic, the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is cracking down on protests.
“Having lost control of the pandemic and the economy, the government tries to set up an artificial scene of tensions in order to distract from its criminal responsibilities,” Syriza, the main opposition party, said of the demonstration ban.
Greece’s Amnesty International branch, meanwhile, documented several incidents in recent months of detainees and protesters being mistreated, overuse of chemical irritants such as tear gas, and other cases of excessive force.
Amnesty — as well other organizations such as the Hellenic League for Human Rights, opposition parties and the Athens bar association — say police brutality has surged since Mitsotakis came to power a year and a half ago in an election that toppled the leftist Syriza government."
Source: Politico, 11 January 2021
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