Trial on riot-triggering police shooting postponed in Greece

AMFISSA, Greece, Jan. 20 (Xinhua)-- A court in Amfissa, a small town in central Greece, decided on Wednesday morning to postpone until Friday the trial of the two Greek policemen implicated in the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old student in Athens in December 2008, which sparked an unprecedented wave of violence across the country.

Epaminondas Korkoneas is accused of manslaughter and Vassilis Korkoneas of complicity in the death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos on Dec. 6, 2008.

The judge accepted the appeal of the victim's mother, Gina Tsalikian, who could not attend the hearing this morning, since her mother is hospitalized in Athens.

Tsalikian insists that the trial should be held in Athens, because it is difficult for key witnesses, like young people who attend school, to move to Amfissa, which is around 200 kilometers west of the Greek capital.

She has even sent a letter to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou asking for his intervention.

But authorities have chosen to move the trial to Amfissa for fears of disorder, as anarchist groups organize new protests starting from Wednesday that could turn into violent clashes with policemen.

At least 400 policemen have been deployed in Amfissa these days in order to maintain security and order in the small town, as the trial is surrounded by tension.

Grigoropoulos' death was followed by a wave of riots throughout the country in December 2008. Since then Far Left, anarchist and guerrilla groups in Greece have stepped up minor terror attacks against police and political and financial targets, claiming that they are taking revenge for the teenager's death.

For more than a year Athens frequently experiences rallies that turn into violent scuffles with police and mainly bomb attacks against state buildings.

In the most serious incidents so far, a policeman was shot dead last summer and six wounded in another attack against a police station last autumn.

Two weeks ago, terrorists carried out a bomb attack outside the Parliament building, next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier monument. No injuries were caused, but the attack was condemned as an attack against democracy by the prime minister.

The government has warned repeatedly that authorities will maintain a "hard line" toward terrorists.