【奔向爱琴海】（1）雅典暴乱

April 9, 2012

雅典暴乱了，让我们遇上了！这给我们几乎完美的爱琴海之旅又增添了一笔斑斓的色彩。

最初一起同行的学姐学长因为要去看望儿子，提前离开了希腊。周周夫妇在结束了爱琴海/土耳其游览后也与我们分开，按照自己的路线去希腊自驾游了。我和YanYan结束了Olympia，Delphi和Meteora游览后，于四月五日傍晚又回到了雅典，遇上当晚发生的暴乱，让我们多了一次从未有过的经历。

那天晚上我和YanYan在酒店放下行李后就去附近的Syntagma市中心广场逛街。大约九点左右，我和YanYan在广场前分手。YanYan先回酒店，我一人去买点食物。正当我从食品店出来时，发现一群年轻人企图冲进店内，店主赶紧拉下铁门阻挡了这群年轻人的进入。等这群年轻人离开后，店主才打开门让我出去，并告诫我不要朝广场中心方向走。这时空气中充满了辣椒粉的味道，许多人开始咳嗽。我本来还想留在原地看个究竟，突然想起瘦马兄上次读了我们在新西兰遇到火警不逃命的帖子后，再三嘱咐以后无论遇到什么情况一定要先逃命，于是我反着广场向巷子深处撒腿就跑。因为我当晚穿的是靴子，跑起来在石板路上击起一阵阵清脆的响声，于是路上越来越多不明情况的行人都跟着我一起跑起来了，结果一群警察也追着我们跑进了巷子。

正当我领着众人奔跑时，突然听到YanYan在路边喊我的名字，于是我闪到路边和YanYan会和，人群和警察则继续往前跑，警察后来大概在前面没有发现什么，又折了回来，这从YanYan的video footage中可以看出。

YanYan平时吃喝玩耍机灵过人，玩天上的跳伞蹦极海底的潜水从来没有畏惧过，那天被吓得没了反应，直到我和她会和后，提醒她赶紧录像，才用手机录下了这段视频。之后她一直不舒服，不知道是受了惊吓，还是吸入了辣椒粉的原因，在回程的飞机上开始发烧了。

我后来又跟着警察反回广场拍了些现场照片，并给朋友发了封email做为一线报道，直到手机没电才离开广场。

下面这组照片是我在现场用手机拍摄的，video footage是YanYan拍摄的。

 

网络上保留的当晚暴乱背景：
http://www.therecord.com/news/world/article/699308--retiree-s-suicide-prompts-athens-protests

Retiree‘s suicide prompts Athens protests

ATHENS, GREECE — A Greek retiree shot himself dead in the busiest public square in Athens during morning rush hour Wednesday, leaving a note police said linked his suicide with the country’s acute financial woes.

Hours later, more than 1,500 anti-austerity protesters gathered in the square, responding to social media calls for peaceful demonstrations accusing Greek politicians of driving people to despair with harsh cutbacks implemented to secure vital international bailouts.

Limited scuffles broke out between the protesters and riot police, who used a small amount of pepper spray to repel youths throwing bottles of water at them.
The 77-year-old retired pharmacist drew a handgun and shot himself in the head near a subway exit on central Syntagma Square which was crowded with commuters, police said. The square, opposite Greece’s parliament, is a focal point for public protests.

The incident jolted public opinion and quickly entered political debate, with the prime minister and the heads of both parties backing Greece’s governing coalition expressing sorrow.

“A pharmacist ought to be able to live comfortably on his pension,” said Vassilis Papadopoulos, a spokesperson for the “I won’t pay” group. “So for him to reach the point of suicide out of economic hardship means a lot. It shows how the social fabric is unravelling.”

Greece has relied on international rescue loans since May 2010. To secure them, Athens implemented harsh austerity measures, slashing pensions and salaries while repeatedly raising taxes. But the belt-tightening worsened the recession and led to thousands of job losses that left one in five Greeks unemployed.

“As a Greek, I am truly shocked,” Dimitris Giannopoulos, an Athens doctor, said before the protest. “I am shocked because I see that (the government is) destroying my dignity ... and the only thing they care about are bank accounts.”
Police said a handwritten note was found on the retired pharmacist’s body in which he attributed his decision to the debt crisis.

According to a text of the note published by local media, the man said the government had made it impossible for him to survive on the pension he had paid into for 35 years. “I find no other solution than a dignified end before I start searching through the trash for food,” read the note. Police did not confirm whether it was genuine.

Greece has seen an increase in suicides over the past two years of economic hardship, during which the country repeatedly teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.

Police did not release the pharmacist’s name and offered few other details.
By Wednesday evening, dozens of written messages had been pinned to the tree under which the man shot himself, some reading: “It was a murder, not a suicide,” and “Austerity kills.”

Hundreds of protesters made their way across the street from the square to outside parliament and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, chanting: “This was not a suicide, it was a state-perpetrated murder” and “Blood flows and seeks revenge.”

Dozens of riot police stood guard.

Papadopoulos, the protest organizer, said the suicide shows Greeks can take no more austerity.

“This suicide is political in nature and heavy in symbolism. It’s not like a suicide at home,” Papadopoulos said in a telephone interview. “There was a political suicide note, and it happened in front of a clearly political site, parliament, where the austerity measures are approved.”

Prime Minister Loucas Papademos issued a statement as protesters gathered at the site of the suicide.

“It is tragic for one of our fellow citizens to end his life,” he said. “In these difficult hours for our society we must all — the state and the citizens — support the people among us who are desperate.”

Government spokesperson Pantelis Kapsis described the incident as “a human tragedy,” but said it should not become part of the political debate.

“I don’t know the exact circumstances that led that man to his act,” Kapsis said. “I believe we must all remain calm and show respect for the true events, which we do not yet fully know.”

Evangelos Venizelos, leader of the Socialist party, said the suicide “is so overwhelming that it renders any political comment unbecoming and cheap.”

“Let us reflect on the condition of the country and of our society in terms of solidarity and cohesion,” said Venizelos, who served as finance minister for eight months before resigning to lead the Socialists.

Conservative party head Antonis Samaras said the tragedy highlighted the urgency of getting Greece out of the crisis.

“Unfortunately, this is not the first (suicide),” he said. “They have reached record levels.”

The Associated Press

事发第二天的现场照片：

我买食物的食品店。

当晚跑过的街道。