Man commits suicide in Athens's Syntagma Square

[2012 Countdown]

Man commits suicide in Athens's Syntagma Square during rush hour

An elderly man committed suicide on Friday morning in Syntagma Square in Athens, in front of Parliament.
Some reports said witnesses claimed the man shouted «I don't want to leave debts to my children,» before he shot himself in the head. According to Skai TV, witnesses said the man did not say anything.
The incident occurred shortly before 9 a.m. when the square was full of people and commuters using Syntagma metro station.
The man had positioned himself next to a big tree and was not in view of most people in the square. Two people who were sitting on a bench some 10 meters away have been questioned by the police.
The man’s identity is not known, nor are the reasons for him deciding to take his own life. Skai TV reported that a note was not found at the scene.

--
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_ar ... 012_436353

===





Man Commits Suicide In Broad Daylight On Athens' Syntagma Square To Protest "Occupation Government"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/man-commi ... government

[Stephen Morgan]

What a violent thing to do. Obviously he's a terrorist and a threat to us all.

[2012 Countdown]

Video clips-

[2012 Countdown]

Athens: Suicide Man Leaves Behind Shocking Note
Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Society

In a sharp political -and for some even “shocking” - tone the man who committed suicide just a couple of meters away from the Greek Parliament in the heart of Athens on Wednesday morning explained the motives for his desperate act. In a hand-written note, retired pharmacist D.X., 77, spoke of loss of dignity due to harsh austerity and wished that some day the youth of the country would take the arms and hang those politicians who brought the country and its people to this stage. He had left a similar not to his daughter.

Daily Proto Thema exclusively published the shattering hand-note of D. Ch.:

“The occupation government of Tsolakoglou* literally annihilated any possibility for my survival that was depended on a decent pension which only I personally paid for 35 years (without any state support).

Because my age does not give me the possibility for a dynamic reaction (without meaning that if a Greek would grab the kalashnikov, I wouldn’t be the second one [to grab one], I see no other solution than the decent end before I start searching in the garbage for food.

I believe that one day the youth without future will take the arms and hang upside down at Syntagma Square the national traitors as the Italians did with Mussolini in 1945 Piazza Poreto in Milan)”



D.X. was married and had a daughter. He was a member of the Greek Pharmacists’ Association. He had sold his pharmacy in 1994 and had gone into retirement.

It looks as if the several pension cuts of the last two years had created such conditions that the man could not bear.

Meanwhile, dozens of Athenians flocked to the spot where D.X. committed suicide, less than two hundred meters away from the Greek Parliament, and started to leave flowers, candles and notes full of anger and indignation against the social injustice of the austerity measures.

When the paramedics removed his corpse in the morning, the stunned passengers had applaud.

D.X. killed himself on Wednesday morning under a park tree with a single bullet on his head.

Greek politicians expressed their shock and shed the usual crocodile tears.

*Georgios Tsolakoglou was a Greek military officer who became the first Prime Minister of the Greek collaborationist government during the Axis Occupation forces of Germany and Italy in 1941-1942, during the WWII. In modern Greece “Tsolakoglou” has the negative connotation meaning a traitor. In times of loan agreemends and Memorandums of Understanding, “Tsolakoglou” refers to those Greek politicians “collaborating” with the country’s lenders, the Troika of IMF, EU and ECB
--

http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2012/0 ... king-note/

[AlicetheKurious]

I believe that one day the youth without future will take the arms and hang upside down at [fill in the blank] the national traitors as the Italians did with Mussolini in 1945 Piazza Poreto in Milan”

[2012 Countdown]

Syntagma Square Suicide Note Ends With Call To Young Greek People To "Hang The Traitors"
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 04/04/2012

Earlier today, we remarked on the story of a 77-year old Greek, now identified as Dimitris Christoulas, who at around 9 am took his life in the middle of Athens' central Syntagma Square with a bullet to his head. His full suicide note has been released. The note, presented below, ends in a solemn call to arms to "hang the traitors of this country."

"The Tsolakoglou government has annihilated all traces for my survival, which was based on a very dignified pension that I alone paid for 35 years with no help from the state. And since my advanced age does not allow me a way of dynamically reacting (although if a fellow Greek were to grab a Kalashnikov, I would be right behind him), I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life, so I don’t find myself fishing through garbage cans for my sustenance. I believe that young people with no future, will one day take up arms and hang the traitors of this country at Syntagma square, just like the Italians did to Mussolini in 1945"

More from Athens News:

Georgios Tsolakoglou was the first collaborationist prime minister during Germany's occupation of Greece during the Second World War.

The reference has been widely interpreted as a comparison between the wartime collaborationist government and the current government of Lucas Papademos.

The suicide occured shortly before 9am, as people went about their business on the square. Christoulas, 77, shot himself while standing next to a tree on one of the grassy areas on the square. He died from a single shot to the head, reports say.

He was a retired pharmacist, with a wife and a daughter. He sold his pharmacy in 1994.

Laos head Yiorgos Karatzaferis noted in Parliament that the bullet that killed the man in Syntagma, also hit the conscience of the Greek political sphere. "This is not just a person that killed himself", he said. "This event should make us understand that we have all been behind this, we have all pulled the trigger. What did this man see from us, before deciding to take his own life? He saw shady goings-on, he saw none of those that stole from him and the Greek people go to jail. What else did he see? He saw no help coming his way, as he tried to deal with his loans and debts. What did this man hear from us? He heard that no slack would be given to him, no room to move, while the political parties would get plenty of money. Money they did not deserve"

"Death isn't just to die, it's also to live in despair, with no hope", New Democracy head Antonis Samaras said of the event, before adding that "incidents like these are what makes the fulfilment of our duty even more important and even more urgent. We must help Greece out of its current state, we must help Greeks escape from despair".

"We have watched all this time as suicides have escalated dramatically in our country, a product of the disgraceful financial policies followed by New democracy and Pasok", was Syriza MP Litsa Amanatidou - Pashalidou's take on the event.

Independent Greeks leader Panos Kamenos called for the suicides of those involved in the country's current state. "It wasn't this man who should have commited suicide. Rather, it should have been those politicians that knowingly led Greece to be crushed by this vice", he said.

Yiannis Dimaras, party leader of the Hellenic Citizens' Charriot stressed that "those who have voted away all the rights of this country, those who have given our dignity away, are those that are guilty for spilling the blood of this Greek pensioner".

Dimitris Zafiriadis, party spokesman for the Democratic Alliance said that this action was an indication of the desperation that a large segment of Greek society is currently feeling, as it watches its way of life being violently altered".

Meanwhile, Pasok MP for Corinthia and former party spokesman Panos Beglitis has come inder heavy fire for his comments while speaking to private television station Skai TV earlier on Wednesday. When asked why no one does anything to help people who are driven to such extremes due to mounting debts, Beglitis repsonded by saying that "in cases like these, we must be very careful when commenting about anything. All I can say, is that this mean was very brave and sensitive. We cannot however connect his suicide with the country's current financial plight. Besides we do not even know if he amassed the debts, or whether his children had a hand in it".

The shocked Greek community is issuing calls for a "Syntagma afternoon" later on Wednesday.

--

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/syntagma- ... g-traitors

================


People gather at the spot where Dimitris Christoulas, 77, took his own life on Wednesday morning. (photo:Reuters)

Note found on Syntagma suicide victim
by Damian Mac Con Uladh 4 Apr 2012

State media has reported that Dimitris Christoulas, the man who took his own life using a pistol on Syntagma Square, in central Athens, on Wednesday morning, left a suicide note.

"The Tsolakoglou government has annihilated all traces for my survival, which was based on a very dignified pension that I alone paid for 35 years with no help from the state. And since my advanced age does not allow me a way of dynamically reacting (although if a fellow Greek were to grab a Kalashnikov, I would be right behind him), I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life, so I don’t find myself fishing through garbage cans for my sustenance. I believe that young people with no future, will one day take up arms and hang the traitors of this country at Syntagma square, just like the Italians did to Mussolini in 1945" the note said.

Georgios Tsolakoglou was the first collaborationist prime minister during Germany's occupation of Greece during the Second World War.

The reference has been widely interpreted as a comparison between the wartime collaborationist government and the current government of Lucas Papademos.

The suicide occured shortly before 9am, as people went about their business on the square. Christoulas, 77, shot himself while standing next to a tree on one of the grassy areas on the square. He died from a single shot to the head, reports say.

He was a retired pharmacist, with a wife and a daughter. He sold his pharmacy in 1994.

Police sealed off the scene and ambulance staff covered the victim's body, which was removed at around 9.30am to Evangelismos hospital.

Political reaction was highly vocal throughout Wednesday, with all parties offering their take on the tragic incident.

Laos head Yiorgos Karatzaferis noted in Parliament that the bullet that killed the man in Syntagma, also hit the conscience of the Greek political sphere. "This is not just a person that killed himself", he said. "This event should make us understand that we have all been behind this, we have all pulled the trigger. What did this man see from us, before deciding to take his own life? He saw shady goings-on, he saw none of those that stole from him and the Greek people go to jail. What else did he see? He saw no help coming his way, as he tried to deal with his loans and debts. What did this man hear from us? He heard that no slack would be given to him, no room to move, while the political parties would get plenty of money. Money they did not deserve".

"Death isn't just to die, it's also to live in despair, with no hope", New Democracy head Antonis Samaras said of the event, before adding that "incidents like these are what makes the fulfilment of our duty even more important and even more urgent. We must help Greece out of its current state, we must help Greeks escape from despair".

"We have watched all this time as suicides have escalated dramatically in our country, a product of the disgraceful financial policies followed by New democracy and Pasok", was Syriza MP Litsa Amanatidou - Pashalidou's take on the event.

Independent Greeks leader Panos Kamenos called for the suicides of those involved in the country's current state. "It wasn't this man who should have commited suicide. Rather, it should have been those politicians that knowingly led Greece to be crushed by this vice", he said.

Yiannis Dimaras, party leader of the Hellenic Citizens' Charriot stressed that "those who have voted away all the rights of this country, those who have given our dignity away, are those that are guilty for spilling the blood of this Greek pensioner".

Dimitris Zafiriadis, party spokesman for the Democratic Alliance said that this action was an indication of the desperation that a large segment of Greek society is currently feeling, as it watches its way of life being violently altered".

Meanwhile, Pasok MP for Corinthia and former party spokesman Panos Beglitis has come inder heavy fire for his comments while speaking to private television station Skai TV earlier on Wednesday. When asked why no one does anything to help people who are driven to such extremes due to mounting debts, Beglitis repsonded by saying that "in cases like these, we must be very careful when commenting about anything. All I can say, is that this mean was very brave and sensitive. We cannot however connect his suicide with the country's current financial plight. Besides we do not even know if he amassed the debts, or whether his children had a hand in it".

The shocked Greek community is issuing calls for a "Syntagma afternoon" later on Wednesday.

Motorcyclists are planning a protest ride around the capital starting at 17:30.

* Greece's national suicide prevention helpline numbers are 1018 and 801 801 99 99
--
http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/54580

[2012 Countdown]

WSJ-
2nd UPDATE: Greek Pensioner Commits Suicide In Central Athens.
By Alkman Granitsas and Nektaria Stamouli
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

--

Following the shooting, groups of Athenians stopped by the point where the suicide took place in order to leave flowers and sympathy notes.

Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis described the suicide as "a human tragedy" that took place under unknown conditions.

"We must all be calm and respect the real causes (of the suicide), which are not yet known," he said.

The suicide also evoked sympathetic responses from a series of Greek politicians who blamed the austerity for the incident.

Greece is now in its fifth year of a grinding economic recession made worse by successive waves of austerity measures the country has taken to meet the demands of its international creditors from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Those various austerity measures have led to steep cuts, in some cases more than 25%, in retiree pensions and other benefits. At the same time many Greeks are being squeezed by declining wages and higher taxes on everything from property to petrol.

"This was a symbolic suicide. If it hadn't happened here, in the square, in front of parliament, no one would notice," said one bystander, who declined to give his name but who heard the shots from across the square.

The social impact of the economic crisis has become increasingly apparent on the streets of Athens and other cities, while suicide rates have jumped. In one notable case last September, a Greek man in his 50s who was struggling with his debts attempted suicide in front of a bank branch in the northern city of Thessaloniki by setting himself on fire.

According to police data, the number of suicides in both 2010 and 2011 surpassed 600 each year, a 20% jump over the rate in 2009, the year before the start of the Greek debt crisis.

But according to health ministry data from the first five months of 2011, suicides jumped about 40% from a year earlier, while the Greek charitable organization Klimaka--which runs a suicide helpline--says the number of callers to its helpline has doubled in the past year.

Many of those callers cite financial difficulties related to the crisis as one of the reasons for wanting to take their own lives, said Klimaka psychiatrist Eleni Bekiari.

"We have seen a sharp increase in the number of calls placed to our hotline," she said. "And many of those callers refer to the financial problems they are facing as a reason for wanting to commit suicide."
--

-By Alkman Granitsas and Nektaria Stamouli, Dow Jones Newswires
--
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-201 ... 07974.html

[2012 Countdown]

A mourner leaves the spot where a man committed suicide at Syntagma square in Athens on Wednesday.

Greece’s debt crisis drives elderly man to suicide in main Athens square
Published On Wed Apr 4 2012

ATHENS- A Greek retiree shot himself dead in the busiest public square in Athens during morning rush hour Wednesday, leaving a note police said linked his suicide with the country’s acute financial woes.

The incident sparked debate in Parliament and an anti-austerity group called for a peaceful protest later Wednesday, accusing Greek politicians of driving people to despair with harsh cutbacks implemented to secure vital international bailouts.

The 77-year-old drew a handgun and shot himself in the head near a subway exit on central Syntagma Square, which was crowded with commuters during the morning rush hour, police said. The square, opposite Greece’s Parliament, is a focal point for public protests.

Police said a handwritten note was found on the retired pharmacist’s body in which he attributed his decision to the debt crisis. Greece has seen an increase in suicides over the past two years of economic hardship, during which the country repeatedly teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.

Police did not release his name and offered few other details.

Soon after the suicide, about a dozen written messages had been pinned to the tree under which the man shot himself, some reading “It was a murder, not a suicide,” and “Austerity kills.”

Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis described the incident as “a human tragedy,” but said it should not become part of political debate.

“I don’t know the exact circumstances that led that man to his act,” Kapsis said at a daily press briefing. “I believe we must all remain calm and show respect for the true events, which we do not yet fully know.”

Anti-austerity activists who had held daily protests for months last year at Syntagma Square blamed the suicide on the cutbacks and called for a new protest in the evening.

Greece has relied on international rescue loans since May 2010. To secure them, Athens implemented harsh austerity measures, slashing pensions and salaries while repeatedly raising taxes.

But the belt-tightening worsened the recession, and led to thousands of job losses with one in five Greeks currently unemployed.

--
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/artic ... ens-square

[2012 Countdown]

Athens: Teargas at Protesters Gathered to Commemorate Victim of Economic Crisis
Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Society

Greek police fired tear gas at demonstrators who gathered outside the parliament to commemorate the pensioner pharmacist who committed suicide on Wednesday morning – just a few meters away. Protesters chanted slogans against the government and some of them hurled smoke granades, stones and bitter organges at the riot policemen. They threw stunn granades and fired tear gas.

Greek media speak of hundreds of demonstrators who flocked outside the Parliament and Syntagma Square to commemorate the man who committed suicide in order to “find a decent end before start searching for food in the garbage” as the pharmacist wrote in a hand-written note found in his pocket.

The spontaneous protest was organized via social media like Facebook and Twitter, where users were calling people to “pay a tribute to those who fell on the alter of the loan agreements.”

Dozens of Greeks put flowers, candles and messages full of outrage at the tree where the desperate man ended his life with a bullet on his head.

Video:
http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2012/0 ... ic-crisis/

[2012 Countdown]

^hoping the greeks start a revolution!^

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Austerity suicide: Greek pensioner shoots himself in Athens

A cash-strapped Greek pensioner who said he feared having to “scrounge for food” shot himself dead in Athens’ main square yesterday in the latest in a series of suicides and attempted suicides triggered by European austerity measures.

full-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... thens.html

===

Live Streaming From Syntagma Square

http://www.livestream.com/occupyunity

[2012 Countdown]

more streams...

http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvg ... _medium=...

http://www.akous.gr/post.asp?uid=3019

http://www.zougla.gr/page.ashx?pid=85&type=&mid=110

[2012 Countdown]

Hmmm. In related news...

Italians shocked by self-immolation protests
29 March 2012

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Italians have been left shocked by two cases of men setting themselves on fire in the past two days in protest at their financial hardship.
--
With Italy in such serious economic trouble, there is now a much more rigorous pursuit of those who do not pay what they owe the state, the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome reports.

There has been much sympathy in the Italian media for the man in Verona, with one newspaper describing him as a man who had been crushed by the economic crisis, he adds.

The same paper listed several people in Italy who it said had recently been driven to suicide by their money worries.

Particularly on the political left, stories like these are seen as symptomatic of the growing pressure and desperation felt by many as Italy's economic climate worsens, our correspondent adds.
--
full-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17556273

[2012 Countdown]

Demonstrators clashed with riot police outside parliament after dark


4 April 2012 Last updated at 18:52 ET
Greek unrest after pensioner suicide beside parliament

Protesters have clashed with riot police in Athens hours after a pensioner shot himself dead outside the Greek parliament.
The man, named in the Greek media as 77-year-old Dimitris Christoulas, killed himself with in the city's busy Syntagma Square on Wednesday morning.
In a suicide note reported by Greek media, he accused the government of reducing his pension to nothing.
Flowers have been laid at the spot where he died and tributes paid online.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the square outside parliament on Wednesday evening, the scene of many large protests in recent months.
Violence erupted, with petrol bombs hurled at police, who fired tear gas in response.
Depression and suicides are reported to have increased in Greece as the country introduces tough austerity measures to deal with huge debts.


People laid tributes at the spot where Dimitris Christoulas shot himself


'Dignified end'
Mr Christoulas shot himself in the central square just before 09:00 local time (06:00 GMT), the Athens News reports.
He was said to be a retired chemist, with a wife and a daughter, who had sold his pharmacy in 1994.
People laid tributes at the spot where Dimitris Christoulas shot himself
In the alleged suicide note, found by police and reported by the Athens News, he said: "The government has annihilated all traces for my survival, which was based on a very dignified pension that I alone paid for 35 years with no help from the state.
"And since my advanced age does not allow me a way of dynamically reacting... I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life, so I don't find myself fishing through garbage cans for my sustenance."
Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis called the suicide a "human tragedy" but that "the exact circumstances" were unknown.
Evangelos Venizelos, head of the socialist Pasok party that holds a majority in the coalition government, called on colleagues to refrain from "political commentary" and "show solidarity and togetherness".
Antonis Samaras, head of the conservative New Democracy party, said politicians must do more to "help Greeks escape from despair".
Drastic austerity measures have been imposed on Greece to meet the terms of a huge eurozone financial bailout needed to save the country from bankruptcy.
Thousands of civil service jobs have been cut, taxes raised and there have been reductions in pay, benefits and pensions.

--
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17620421

====================


An Orthodox priest holds a religious ceremony at the spot where a man committed suicide in Syntagma Square in Athens Photo: REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis

Greek man shoots himself 'over austerity measures'
A Greek man has shot himself dead in Athens' main square in the latest of a series of suicides and attempted suicides apparently caused by the harsh austerity measures being imposed across Europe.

By Nick Squires, Rome
1:47PM BST 04 Apr 2012
The death of the 77-year-old man in the Greek capital's Syntagma Square came after similar incidents in Italy.
The pensioner shot himself with a handgun a few hundred yards from the Greek parliament, in apparent despair over his debts.
He reportedly shouted "so I won't leave debts for my children" before killing himself in the square, which has been the scene of numerous violent protests
against the introduction of tough austerity measures in recent months.
The elderly man killed himself as hundreds of commuters streamed out of a nearby metro exit during Athens' morning rush hour.
Greece's fifth consecutive year of recession has been worsened by drastic cuts to public services, pensions and salaries and higher taxes, which were
introduced in response to the demands of the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

The man's death was a vivid illustration of the rise in the country's suicide rate.
In neighbouring Italy, a 78-year-old woman threw herself from the balcony of her third-floor apartment on Tuesday in apparent protest against the fact that her monthly pension had been cut to 600 euros.
The pensioner, from the town of Gela in Sicily, had recently had her pension cut from 800 euros a month and was reportedly struggling to make ends meet.
"The government is making us all poorer, apart from the wealthy, who they don't touch, in contrast with us workers and small businessmen who are struggling with heavy debts," said her son, Bruno Marsana.
Her death came a week after a 58-year-old businessman tried to commit suicide by setting himself alight while sitting in his car outside a tax office in Bologna in northern Italy.
He was apparently protesting against the rejection of his appeal against a claim for unpaid tax.
The fire left him in a critical state and he was rushed to hospital for treatment of extensive burns all over his body.
A day later a 27-year-old Moroccan immigrant set himself on fire in protest at not being paid for four months.
The construction worker doused himself in petrol outside the town hall of Verona, also in northern Italy. He too was treated in hospital for extreme burns.
His self-immolation was a "symptom of the utter exasperation felt by the weakest employees," said Vincenzo Scudiere from the CGIL trade union, Italy's largest.
The technocrat government of Mario Monti, the prime minister, is attempting to force through an ambitious package of spending cuts and reforms to balance the budget by 2013 and stem fears that Italy could go the way of Greece.
Unions and workers have objected to the package of pension reforms, tax increases and changes to employment contracts and have threatened to hold protests and strikes.

--
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... sures.html

[2012 Countdown]

Pensioner’s suicide hits nerve in Greek debt crisis
RENEE MALTEZOU
ATHENS— Reuters
Published Wednesday, Apr. 04, 2012 9:54AM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Apr. 04, 2012 7:35PM EDT

By nightfall, the crowd around the suicide site had swelled to a few thousand, with some chanting: “This was not suicide – it was murder committed by the state.”
There were brief moments of tension near parliament when police fired teargas at a group of about a dozen protesters throwing gasoline bombs at them. Rocks were also thrown at a luxury hotel in the square.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... le2391683/

--

Greek man kills himself over debts
Updated: 08:14, Thursday April 5, 2012

Three years into a deepening debt crisis, Greece's shrinking economy, soaring unemployment and continued austerity has brought the nation to its knees leaving Greeks little, if any, strength at all to defend the European single currency they adopted a decade plus ago.
Measures put forward by Greece's international creditors to fix the country's economy have seen crime shoot up by 125% in the past year alone, the number of homeless climb by 30% and the rate of suicides - once among the lowest in the European Union - surge, doubling since the onset of the crisis in late 2009.
Authorities claim the levels remain relatively low compared to higher rates recorded in other European countries.
Still, independent experts argue, suicides are greatly under-reported because of the strong stigma the act carries in this tiny, Mediterranean country.
The Greek Orthodox Church, for example, refuses funeral services for suicides unless the act is carried out under a state of mental illness.
In the most notable case since the start of the crisis, a middle-aged man doused himself with petrol and set himself ablaze outside a bank branch after failing to meet monthly mortgage payments.
News of the latest suicide sent scores of bystanders to Syntagma Square.

http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article ... Id=3169300
--


A mourner places a candle at the spot where a man committed suicide at Syntagma square in Athens Wednesday, touching a nerve among ordinary Greeks feeling the brunt of the country's economic crisis.
Photograph by: John Kolesidis , Reuters

Greek pensioner kills himself at parliament to protest austerity
By Paul Anast and Nick Squires, The Daily Telegraph April 4, 2012

Within hours of his death, an impromptu shrine with candles, flowers and handwritten notes sprung up in the tree-lined square in the heart of the city.
One note nailed to a tree said "Enough is enough", another asked "Who will be the next victim?" while a third said "It was a murder, not a suicide".
The elderly man killed himself as hundreds of commuters streamed out of a nearby metro exit during the city's morning rush hour.
Costas Lourantos, the president of the pharmacists' union in the Attica region, said he met the man several years ago and remembered him as quiet and dignified.
"When dignified people like him are brought to this state, somebody must answer for it," said Mr Lourantos. "There is a moral instigator to this crime - which is the government that has brought people to such despair."
He said the pensioner had "sent out a message to the world" about the plight of Greece. Greece's fifth consecutive year of recession has been worsened by drastic cuts to public services, pensions and salaries and higher taxes, which were introduced in response to the demands of the International Monetary Fund and the European Union in exchange for financial bail-outs.
One in five Greeks is unemployed, depression is on the rise and there is a growing feeling of despair across the country. The government said last year that suicides had increased 40 per cent over the previous two years.
The high-profile suicide came a day after 78-year-old Italian woman threw herself from the balcony of her third-floor apartment in protest against a cut in her monthly pension from 800 euros to 600 euros.

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/kills ... z1r7UZyiSc

--

A woman places a flowers as others stand at the site where an elderly man fatally shot himself at Athens' main Syntagma square, on Wednesday, April 4, 2012. The Greek pensioner picked the busiest public area in Athens to shoot himself dead on Wednesday, leaving a note which police said linked his suicide with the country's acute financial woes.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)


A Greek Orthodox priest holds a memorial service, at the site where an elderly man fatally shot himself at Athens' main Syntagma square, on Wednesday, April 4, 2012. The Greek pensioner picked the busiest public area in Athens to shoot himself dead on Wednesday, leaving a note which police said linked his suicide with the country's acute financial woes. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Elderly Greek kills himself in main Athens square

Hundreds of protesters made their way across the street from the square to outside Parliament and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, chanting: "This was not a suicide, it was a state-perpetrated murder" and "Blood flows and seeks revenge."
Dozens of riot police stood guard.
Papadopoulos, the protest organizer, said the suicide shows Greeks can take no more austerity.
"This suicide is political in nature and heavy in symbolism. It's not like a suicide at home," Papadopoulos said in a telephone interview. "There was a political suicide note, and it happened in front of a clearly political site, Parliament, where the austerity measures are approved."
Prime Minister Loucas Papademos issued a statement as protesters gathered at the site of the suicide.
"It is tragic for one of our fellow citizens to end his life," he said. "In these difficult hours for our society we must all — the state and the citizens — support the people among us who are desperate."
Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis described the incident as "a human tragedy," but said it should not become part of the political debate.
"I don't know the exact circumstances that led that man to his act," Kapsis said. "I believe we must all remain calm and show respect for the true events, which we do not yet fully know."
Evangelos Venizelos, leader of the Socialist party, said the suicide "is so overwhelming that it renders any political comment unbecoming and cheap."
"Let us reflect on the condition of the country and of our society in terms of solidarity and cohesion," said Venizelos, who served as finance minister for eight months before resigning to lead the Socialists.
Conservative party head Antonis Samaras said the tragedy highlighted the urgency of getting Greece out of the crisis.
"Unfortunately, this is not the first (suicide)," he said. "They have reached record levels."

http://news.yahoo.com/elderly-greek-kil ... 59596.html

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Retiree's suicide jolts Greece, triggers violence
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A Greek retiree shot himself dead in Athens' main square Wednesday, blasting politicians over the country's financial crisis in a suicide note that triggered violent clashes hours later between police and anti-austerity protesters. Riot police fired tear gas and flash grenades after protests attended by some 1,500 people turned violent, and youths hurled rocks and petrol bombs outside Parliament. Authorities reported no injuries or arrests.

full-
http://news.yahoo.com/retirees-suicide- ... 52081.html

[Twyla LaSarc]

That tree is amazing. It's not a random tree. It is the only one of such age (judging by the photos) in the immediate environs of the park. I'd love to know the species, I'm guessing oak of some kind, just because it resembles a mediteranean oak tree I once saw in the arboretum surrounding the CA state capitol. ( my sobriety on said state government grounds could probably be called into question)

I see the resemblance of the tree to a fluted column. I love it's texture. Sad to have it decorated that way.

I hope he accomplishes what he set out to do.

What happens when Greece Springs?