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Another Roma boy dies

in police chase, marking
grim pattern in Greece
Greece’s Roma minority demands
answers after Christos
Michalopoulos, 17, died while being
pursued by police.

A protest banner made by Christos

Michalopoulos's friends reads: 'When the cops
kill your children, then you will also go out of
your cages. Christos, present' [Moira
Lavelle/Al Jazeera]

By Moira Lavelle
27 Nov 2023

Athens, Greece – Most of the

mourners at the funeral were
teenagers.

Christos Michalopoulos’s class-

mates, friends, and family gath-
ered outside a church near the
central Greek city of Thebes to
bid farewell to the 17-year-old
who died during a police chase
on November 11.

Dressed in black, they clung to

each other in silence, some in
tears.

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The air hung with a sense of

shock. Several family members
appeared lightheaded. Some
fainted and had to be held up-
right or taken away for medical
care.

When the bier was carried out of

the church, a small crowd chant-
ed his name as though answer-
ing his name on a school atten-
dance register: “Christos
Michalopoulos! Present!”

Michalopoulos died with a bullet

lodged in his clavicle after being
pursued by officers, marking the
third time in less than three
years that a Roma teenager has
been killed in incidents involv-
ing Greek police.

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Since that fateful Saturday,

there have been protests, calls
for justice and clashes with po-
lice across the country.

Michalopoulos’s loved ones say

police killed him, a claim that
has not been confirmed by the
Hellenic Police service.

Amnesty International has

called for a “prompt, thorough,
transparent and effective inves-
tigation into the latest incident
as well, including an investiga-
tion into a possible discrimina-
tory motive”.

On November 16, an accused

police officer who has not been
named, gave his initial testimo-
ny in Thebes.

Michalopoulos’s loved ones

waited outside the court for
hours, chanting slogans with the
cadence of football slogans that
the boy remained among them,
as they cursed the police and
their lawyer.

“He was a very quiet kid, always

smiling, he didn’t bother any-
one,” said Chronis Kenzis, 17, a
friend and relative of
Michalopoulos. “He was crazy
for his car, with his music, dri-
ving around, with all of this. And
he passed away unjustly. Very
unjustly.”

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Another friend and relative,

Panagiotis Chatzidiakos, 18, said
he was speechless when he
heard Michalopoulos had died.
He said he and his friends face
regular harassment from the po-
lice. He feels wherever he sits,
wherever he hangs out, they will
bother him.

“The cops are all racist,”

Chatzidiakos told Al Jazeera.
“And in this period, where
they’ve taken three kids, what
can I say? We’re afraid to move
around.”

Kenzis said the police once

stopped him and a friend at a
local taverna and carried out a
full body search on them.

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“All of the neighbours came and

saw us,” he said. “And here in
Thebes everyone knows us, it
travelled mouth to mouth and
everyone heard about it.”

As they waited to see how the

investigation would proceed, the
teenage friends paced back and
forth, anxious to see if the ac-
cused police officer would be
held in custody after his testimo-
ny.

“We want justice,” said Chatzidi-

akos. “And for this not to hap-
pen again. We have to do some-
thing about this. It won’t just be
three murders by cops, there will
be others. And not only Roma,
but also Pakistanis, Albanians,
all of us.”

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The accused officer was later

released from custody after giv-
ing his testimony. He has been
temporarily suspended from ac-
tive police duty.

“All of us who spent time with

Christos, these days we’re feel-
ing horrible,” said Chatzidiakos.

The incident
During the car chase, officers
pursued the car Michalopoulos
was driving on a road outside of
Thebes.

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Michalopoulos’s brother and

two other teenagers were pas-
sengers.

The Hellenic Police say the car

was driving erratically, at high
speed. They signalled it to stop,
a warning that they say was ig-
nored. The police report says
officers chased the car until it hit
a parked car and came to a
standstill.

Officers say they then “ap-

proached the vehicle to conduct
a high-risk check, during which
the checked driver was injured
after a shooting”.

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The circumstances of that shoot-

ing are being investigated, the
police said in their report.

The lawyer acting for the police

officer who was allegedly in-
volved has stated that it appears
the teenager attempted to
snatch the gun.

In his testimony, the police offi-

cer, reportedly said: “I was
shouting for him to open the
door, so we could check on him,
I had taken out my pistol be-
cause I didn’t know who was in-
side the vehicle and if he carried
a weapon.

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“When I opened the car door, he

tried to grab my gun. When I
realised his intention, I drew the
pistol and then I heard the click,
I froze.”

The victim’s brother countered

this in an interview with Greek
television channel OPEN, claim-
ing the officer hit the window of
the car with the gun, pulled
Michalopoulos out of the vehi-
cle, kicked him, and then shot
him.

A few days after the incident, a

CCTV video that was filmed near
the scene of the killing was re-
leased, in which the exchange
between the police and the
teenagers can be heard.

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In the clip, the car can be seen

rushing by with the police four-
wheel drive in close pursuit.

The police officer can be heard

yelling, “Stop! Stop!”. Then
there are muffled knocking
sounds, and within seven sec-
onds, gunshots and screams.

Michalopoulos’s brother can be

heard shouting, “What did the
child do for you to shoot him?
What did he do?”.

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According to reports in Greek

media, the autopsy showed that
Michalopoulos was shot at close
range, while forensic evidence
indicates that none of his DNA
was found on the gun.

The lawyer representing the

Michalopoulos family has ac-
cused the police of tampering
with evidence. He alleged that
police washed the site of the in-
cident, that police transported
and cleaned the vehicle driven
by the 17-year-old, and that they
wiped the deceased boy’s hands.

At the time of writing, the Hel-

lenic Police had not responded
to Al Jazeera’s requests for com-
ment.

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Alleged police killings of

Greek Roma teenagers
The Michalopoulos family iden-
tifies as belonging to the Roma
community, an ethnic minority
that is heavily persecuted across
Europe.

“We are Greek Gypsies, Greek

Roma, we exist in many differ-
ent cities. But here in Thebes we
are all fully integrated,” Aposto-
lis Michalopoulos, Christos’s
cousin, told Al Jazeera.

The Panhellenic Confederation

of Greek Roma has accused po-
lice of discrimination, given the
other recent deadly incidents.

“How much more research is

needed on dead Roma before we
decide as a state and as a society
to proactively and courageously
face racism and intolerance so
that today one more family does
not mourn?” the group said.

Referring to two former police-