Greece: Romani youth dies after being shot by police last week, police are on alert nationwide
Kostas Fragoulis, the 16-year-old Romani boy who was shot by a police officer during a car chase last week, succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday, Reuters reports. According to doctors, he arrived at the hospital with a gunshot wound to his head.
The police shooting of the teenager in Greece sparked protests by the Romani community, whose representatives are criticizing the state for its racism. At least one officer involved has been arrested so far and the case is being investigated by police.
Mr. Fragoulis allegedly left a gas station near Thessaloniki without paying; a police officer who pursued him fired his weapon twice during the chase, seriously wounding him. The young man arrived in critical condition at the hospital and was in an intensive care unit after undergoing surgery.
“Despite the tireless efforts of the health care team, the patient died on Tuesday at 10:10 local time (9:10 CET),” the hospital statement says. Antonis Tasios, a representative of the Romani community of which Mr. Fragoulis was a member, said of the news that “Everybody here is crying. It’s unjust that a child has to pass away like this.”
Civil Defense Minister Takis Theodorikakos expressed his condolences and support to the family of the deceased on Twitter. In Athens and Thessaloniki, protests numbering in the thousands erupted in response to the shooting last week.
Some protesters clashed with police, but Romani community representatives and the family of the victim urged for calm to prevail. Immediately after the announcement of the Romani youth’s death, the General Directorate of the Greek Police was instructed by the political leadership to order all police forces be placed on general alert throughout Greece.
According to Vasilis Pantzos, a representative of the Greek Roma, it is precisely Romani people and other vulnerable groups who face hate and prejudice which are the most subjected to police brutality. Police officers themselves criticized the use of force in this most recent intervention.
“This is a tragic incident, the fourth such in our community during the last year,” Pantzos told Agence-France Presse (AFP). In October 2021, police shot dead another Romani man, also during a car chase.
The police officer who shot Mr. Fragoulis defended himself in court, claiming to have used his firearm to protect the lives of his colleagues. They were riding motorcycles and according to the officer, who has been under house arrest since Friday, the young man attempted to bring them down with his car.
According to the most recent report by the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) about Romani people in certain EU Member States, more than 90 % of the Romani people in Greece are endangered by poverty. More than 40 % of Romani respondents said they had experienced ill-treatment because of their ethnicity during the past year.
