Greek police to investigate "violent behavior" by officer

  • 10 years ago
ROUGH CUT (No reporter narration)

Greek police on Monday (December 8) said they had begun an internal investigation after video footage from weekend protests showed a riot policeman punching and kicking a handcuffed protester.

Footage shot by Reuters on Saturday (December 6) showed police in riot gear pulling up a handcuffed protester off the ground, after which one of the policemen punches and kicks the man. A policeman can be heard in the background saying: "Molotovs, sir", referring to petrol bombs.

A protest by thousands on Saturday to mark the 2008 police killing of a teenager turned violent when black-clad youth set shops and cars on fire and hurled petrol bombs at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon.

"Athens police have launched an investigation into a video published in the media which shows a policeman's violent behavior against a Greek person who was arrested during clashes that erupted in Athens on Saturday," police said in a statemen