REPORTS
Arbitrary police action against demonstrators during the strike for the Tempi rail disaster (28.2.2025)
Some of these reports are particularly worrying: on 28 February news247.gr published a report including a video, in which riot police are seen suddenly hitting members of the crowd, seemingly at random. Another video published by EfSyn shows around ten police officers beating a young protester, whilst another video published by Documento shows a police officer pushing an elderly man, and shortly afterwards police officers using flash bang grenades and tear gas against demonstrators.
In complaints received by Reporters United, citizens reported that riot police blatantly beat citizens in order to disperse the crowd peacefully demonstrating in Syntagma Square (1, 2).The police violence recording group copwatch.gr also published a number of incidents of unprovoked state arbitrariness (1, 2, 3).
In a statement on 1 March 2025, the Hellenic Police Force (ELAS) defended the work of the police forces as being ‘within the framework of the law’ and denied any ‘identification of police officers with people who cause incidents during demonstrations’. The statement noted that police officers, before the demonstrations, identified and arrested people who possessed dangerous objects, such as Molotov cocktails and explosive devices, which could have cost human lives. Operations continued throughout the demonstration, with the first priority being to ensure the physical safety of peaceful demonstrators. Police forces apprehended 237 people, of which 77 were arrested.
In a state governed by the rule of law, the action and functioning of the police authorities must be governed by certain principles, including the principle of legality, the principle of proportionality, the prohibition of abuse of police power, and the respect for and protection of human rights. The powers of the police authorities and the conduct to be displayed by them in the exercise of their duties are regulated, inter alia, by Presidential Decrees 538/1989, 141/1991 and 254/2004.
Although the Police may use force in order to enforce the law and protect human rights, this does not mean that all use of preventive or repressive force by police officers is legal. On the contrary, the arbitrary use of the power to use force and police action in excess of legal limits is a dangerous phenomenon for a democracy.
Furthermore, the action of the police authorities should ensure, rather than hinder or frustrate the exercise of the right of assembly, which is guaranteed by Article 11 of the Constitution (“1. Greeks shall have the right to assemble peaceably and unnarmed. 2. The police may be present only at outdoor public assemblies. Outdoor assemblies may be prohibited by a reasoned police authority decision, in general if a serious threat to public security is imminent, and in a specific area, if a serious disturbance of social and economic life is threatened, as specified by law.)
In view of the above, it should be noted that the behaviour of the police authorities here appears, from the evidence published to deviate,- in a repeated and systematic manner – from the legal limits of police action.
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