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term, discipline, or repercussions of any kind146, was evoked by many Roma I
interviewed as the most egregious example of state-sponsored, or condoned, police
violence against their community. Accordingly, until December 2008, the CeIal murder
was employed in conversations to index oppressive violence suffered by the Roma at the
hands of the police. Currently, however, the Roma have begun to evoke Grigoropoulos
(or “Alexis”, O Aλεξης). Grigoropoulos is not identified by the Roma as “one of us”
(δικ6ς μας), but the violence that killed him is referred-to as “typical” (τυπικ6), that is,
the Roma are not claiming to be Greek like Grigoropoulos but are asserting the
commonality of a particular experience of being Greek across communities. In this way,
Grigoropoulos is coming to index an emerging connection between the Greek and the
Roma based on violent state oppression and resistance to that oppression147. Within
Roma camps, especially in Athens, “the December events” (τα ∆εκεμβpιava) refers to а
common experience, a common struggle and, importantly, a moment of equality when
both the Roma and the mainstream Greek population were united. For the Roma youth
that took to the streets, participation in the civil unrest was both a protest against the
violence they suffer and an evocation of an ideal, socio-political identity.
For Vasilo’s son, Christos, the social unrest provided an opportunity to act more
directly against the state and the police that dog him. On the third night of the rioting,
Christos and his migrant friends went downtown to join the groups of young people who
were chanting slogans and throwing rocks. Christos brought materials to assemble a
Molotov cocktail, “in case it is needed”, as he put it. As the night progressed and the
146 In fact, the officer was permitted to continue working for the police.
147 Of note, the forced eviction of anarchists and youth that occupy houses across Greece by the police is
also mentioned by some Roma as a common experience. However, they are quick to point out that the
lands they live on and are forced to leave are rightfully theirs whereas the youth and anarchists are
trespassers.