The situation in Greece grows violent.

[JDPriestly]

"As more than 40 buildings went up in flames, including two historic cinemas and several banks, Athens city centre was left resembling a war zone with cafes and shops smashed and looted as MPs backed the austerity measures by 199 votes to 74 in the single most important ballot in modern Greek history.

The chaos dominated one of the stormiest debates seen in the Greek parliament as MPs argued over a raft of strict measures demanded in return for international aid. Clashes were also reported in Thessaloniki, Patras, Corfu and Crete.

. . . .
In what appeared to be a well-organised plan, young protesters armed with petrol bombs and wearing masks, set buildings ablaze as police fired stun guns and rounds of teargas in retaliation. Two police stations were also targeted."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/12/greek-protesters-clash-parliament-austerity

And for photos and the report in French.

http://www.lemonde.fr/crise-financiere/infographe/2012/02/12/violents-affrontements-entre-manifestants-et-policiers-a-athenes_1642362_1581613.html#ens_id=1268560

The caption states that 40 police officers were injured during the violence.

[riderinthestorm]

1. I'm worried somebody's going to be assassinated over this.... the anger is so intense. nt

[FarLeftFist]

2. Austerity has decimated Greece and will continue for a long time to come.

[provis99]

3. Greece is a rich country, whose billionaires don't want to pay taxes.

there's the whole problem.

[Initech]

6. You could say the same for us.

Our billionaires don't want to pay taxes either. It sucks that the worlds' wealth is controlled by 500 rotten scumbags who want it all, and they don't pay back. It's such an evil system we've setup.

[annabanana]

7. +1. . for a cautionary tale.. . . .n/t

[2ndAmForComputers]

8. Exactly. The billionaires. But extremist right-wingers will tell you it's the poor

who are the freeloaders.

[amandabeech]

4. Obviously, people will get hurt in riots.

But 40 injured officers really doesn't sound like that big a riot. It sounds more localized.

The casualty lists were much higher in the '60s riots in Newark, Watts and Detroit, which were very widespread, and frequently seemed to spawn riots in other close-by areas.

I was a 12 year old living in rural Michigan in '67, the year of the Detroit riots. It was pretty spooky. I was watching the old "Smothers Brothers" program, and announcers kept breaking in ordering all national guard and state police to report immediately to their barracks. My parents, who were early risers, were so concerned that they stayed up for the 11 o'clock news. It's the only time I ever saw my Dad stay up that late. Of course, the news even in our area was all about the riots.

At the same time as Detroit, nearly all the smaller industrial cities in southern Michigan went up in flames. It took six weeks before we could go to the downtown shopping district in the city nearest us. In the days before malls and Chinamart, city shops sold a lot of back to school clothes and supplies. It was getting very close to the beginning of school. I don't know how long it took before the area in which the riot erupted was open to general traffic. One of my friend's dads was a state trooper. He saw action in Detroit during the riots and wouldn't talk about it again, ever, like some servicemen and women who've seen combat.

I expect that we ill see more of this in the coming years unless the jobs REALLY come back. I am not looking forward to it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. You might want to look up the geography of Greece

and population density, and will leave it at that.

[amandabeech]

9. I looked it up. 212. Thinly populated rural areas.

Detroit's population in the '60s was upwards of 1.6 million, and crowding had been exacerbated by the bulldozing of African American neighborhoods for "urban renewal"--high rise housing developments--and the building of the interstate highway system into downtown Detroit. The population of teens was high then--baby boomers of all races were growing up.

Detroit's current population is a little over 700,000.

[JDPriestly]

10. The population of all of Greece is only just over 10,787,000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Greece

4,591,568 in Central Greece where I should think most of the rioting is occurring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Greece

Detroit's population was around 2 million in the 1960s.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704461304576216850733151470.html

The Detroit riots were probably worse with regard to some things.

Also in terms of burning structures, the Rodney King riots in LA around 1992 were worse. But the Greek riots are seemingly well organized from what I am reading. That changes the nature of them to something less easy to control I think.

[amandabeech]

11. Population density in Detroit proper was high at that time.

Also, the percentage of Detroiters who were uncounted in '60 and '70 would probably been very high, but I think that 2 mil is a little too high by the census figures. However, I don't know if there would have been enough brave people to do the census in person in '70. Fear was high, and not just among the whites who were left.

The Detroit riots did not spread to the suburban areas, even the close rich Gross Pointes. They were really pinned in by the police and guardsmen. There was a run on handguns in the close-in suburbs area after the riots, you can be sure.

I'm not as personally familiar with the Rodney King riots, although they looked really, really bad.

I don't mean to make light of the Greek situation. There are no good riots. I do hope that the Greeks manage to avert U.S. style blowouts.

Editing to add:

The Detroit riots, did, however, inspire simultaneous riots in just about every industrial city or town in southern Michigan, including places like Flint and even Grand Rapids, the Salt Lake City of the Midwest. If something like that were to happen in Greece, it would be a clear escalation and would be very, very dangerous. See my first post in your topic.

[JDPriestly]

12. I remember the Detroit riots but never knew as much about them as you do.

The Greek riots are well organized and very violent, and in response to the economic austerity programs. I think that the French and German governments are very worried about whether the banks will be repaid. And I don't think that the Greek people have the desire to repay the banks by themselves. This is different from the Detroit riots and other riots of the 1960s because the American riots were the culmination of generations of discrimination and economic inequality. The Greek riots are an expression of anger at economic unfairness that arises from dishonesty not from centuries of repression and racial discrimination to the point of slavery.