The rampage intensified, when on December 19 2008, twenty masked protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at the French Cultural Institute, signaling the spread of unrest throughout Europe. The attack on the French Institute preceded scheduled demonstrations involving student groups & rallies by Greek trade unions. Multiple strikes by labor unions, teachers, doctors, and air traffic controllers have been an ongoing occurrence throughout Greece since the conflagration began.
The strikers are angry over the Karamanlis-led government’s handling of the economic crisis. The unions want higher wages and pensions & broader social spending. Greece’s two largest unions, the General Confederation of Workers & the Civil Servants Union, had already planned public demonstrations in protest of the failing economy long before the shooting of the young teenager.
The unrest that has gripped Greece these past two weeks has been spilling into the rest of Europe, raising concerns that it could be a trigger for opponents of globalization, disaffected youth, and others outraged by the economic planners of the EU. Beginning December 15, 2008, protesters in Spain, Denmark and Italy smashed shop windows, pelted police with bottles and attacked banks - while in France, cars were set ablaze outside the Greek Consulate in Bordeaux. Protesters warned about a looming “insurrection.”
In their ongoing crackdown on Internet usage, The EU’s Law Enforcement Agency, “Europol,” is leaking allegations that many of the protests were organized over the Internet. Europol points to one Website in particular which Greek protesters use to update each other on the locations of clashes. The EU’s center of operations, the Federal Republic of Germany, has just passed a controversial bill regarding the use of the Internet for ‘terrorist operations’ - a broad definition that will target civil dissenters.
In their ongoing crackdown on Internet usage, The EU’s Law Enforcement Agency, “Europol,” is leaking allegations that many of the protests were organized over the Internet. Europol points to one Website in particular which Greek protesters use to update each other on the locations of clashes. The EU’s center of operations, the Federal Republic of Germany, has just passed a controversial bill regarding the use of the Internet for ‘terrorist operations’ - a broad definition that will target civil dissenters.
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