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New protests set over Greek man’s suicide
Photo
A note in Spanish sits among candles, flowers and cards that people left at the site where a 77-year-old man shot himself in the head Wednesday on Syntagma square in Athens, Greece. Police clashed with demonstrators for a second day Thursday at the site.
Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece
Anti-austerity activists were planning new protests in Athens’ main square after a retiree publicly killed himself, leaving a note that blasted politicians over the country’s financial crisis.
Many in the debt-crippled country see the 77-year-old retired pharmacist as a martyr whose suicide symbolized the cumulative effect of more than two years of economic pain imposed to secure international bailouts shielding the country from bankruptcy.
More than 1,500 people gathered at Syntagma Square hours after the suicide Wednesday, chanting, “This was no suicide, it was a state-perpetrated murder,” and clashing with riot police.
The retiree chose the morning rush hour to shoot himself in the head near a subway exit on the square — a focal point for protests and a stone’s throw from Parliament. The tree under which he died was festooned with notes blaming government-imposed austerity for his death.
Dozens gathered on the spot Thursday, leaving flowers, Greek flags and candles on the grass.
In a suicide note published by local media, the man said could he not survive on his pension and expected Greeks to take up arms and “hang traitors” in the square.
The crisis has cost tens of thousands of jobs, sending unemployment to a record high of 21 percent while 1 in 2 Greeks under age 25 is jobless — amid a shrinking economy that is not expected to revive for at least two years.