Over 1,500 mourners gathered in the Thessaloniki suburb of Evosmos on Thursday for the funeral of 16-year-old Kostas Frangoulis, the Roma teenager who died in hospital on Tuesday after being shot by police last week.
The teen was shot during a vehicular chase after he allegedly filled his car with 20 euros worth of fuel at a Thessaloniki petrol station and left without paying. He was hospitalised for eight days in critical condition following the December 5 shooting, before succumbing to his injuries.
The incident led to days of protests which in some cases turned violent, despite calls for calm from the teenager’s family and Roma community leaders.
“Today all of society must be united. Today we are all Roma,” Theofilos Alexopoulos the family’s lawyer said in a statement.
The Frangoulis family held a viewing at their home where community gathered to mourn over the open coffin, his head covered with a white baseball cap; some placed banknotes in the coffin as is Roma tradition.
Playing traditional mournful music and a favourite song of the teen’s, they formed a procession following the hearse to the cemetery for his burial.
Giorgos Stamatis, Greece’s Labor Ministry’s Secretary General for Social Solidarity and Fighting Poverty attended the funeral.
He is quoted by Kathimerini as saying “Today is a difficult day, a sad day. We bid farewell to a young person… who didn’t have time to live his life and leaves behind a young wife and child.”
Stamatis said the government would support the family and the Roma community at large by combating the social exclusion they face and improving their living conditions.
Greece’s Roma community has denounced the shooting as racially motivated. The death and injury of Roma men during confrontations with police is not an uncommon occurrence in the country.
The case shines a spotlight on the plight of the Roma, who face widespread discrimination not only in Greece but across Europe, often living on the margins of society.
Vassilis Pantsios, president of the Confederation of Greek Roma said “Social inclusion for us is for us to be integrated into society as a whole, with targeted policies.” He went on to note that the Roma community suffers from an unemployment rate between 70 and 80 per cent.
The 34-year-old police officer charged for the shooting has been suspended and is currently under house arrest until a court decision is made on whether he will be held on remand or released on bail.
Members of the Roma community have made it clear they expect him to be held in custody.
Police say Frangoulis attempted to ram the police motorbikes chasing him with his car prior to the shooting. The accused officer says that he fired his weapon because he feared for the lives of his colleagues, and that he had been aiming at the vehicles tyres, not the driver.
The officer was initially charged with attempted manslaughter with possible intent and one count of illegally firing his weapon. The charge of attempted manslaughter is likely to be upgraded to manslaughter with possible intent in the wake of Frangoulis’ death.
