Sunday December 14, 03:18 AM
Athens shopkeepers resume Christmas sales after protests
By Catherine Boitard
ATHENS (AFP) - Shopkeepers in Athens are getting back to business for the busy Christmas season after a week of violent protests against the death of a teenager by a police bullet.
A group of young people look on as the eighty-something Nikos Papadopoulos opens up his optician's shop in the centre of Athens, a family-run store that has been a fixture for over 50 years.
"They won't break anything" he says. "We've become experts. When I saw the tension escalating, I shut up shop."
His store was spared Monday evening after the protests in central Athens degenerated into vandalism and looting.
Greece has been gripped over the past eight days by a deep-rooted protest movement which has succeeded in uniting mainstream and radical youth and that the opposition socialists are seizing upon to press for fresh elections.
The sweeping protests were sparked by the death of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos who fell victim to a police bullet last Saturday.
"Business goes on, even if for the moment, the clients are few and far between. The sales from this year's Christmas holidays will definitely not be that impressive," the octogenarian adds glumly.
Further up the street, a number of shops are boarded up. In front of his clothes store, 60-year-old Evangelos Papayorgiou sweeps up pieces of broken glass as workers replace the front windows.
"We struggled to find a team of window-fitters, but we will be ready soon, and when we have time, we could even attach some metal shutters," he says.
"There will be more protests," said Yannis Saitinis, as he washes the window of his shoe shop. "But the real problem is the economic crisis. That's what has been putting off customers."
Ermou Street is normally on the most bustling, upmarket shopping streets in Athens, yet since the violence of the past week, the pavements have been taken over by curious onlookers and African street sellers, holding bags stuffed with counterfeit branded goods.
"We sell good things and very cheap," sayas a young Senegalese man.
Dimitra Naka, a 24-year-old cashier in an organic food store, vents her spleen, railing against the government.
"If I was braver, I would be in the streets as well," she says. "But I would be smashing up the ministers' offices, not shops."
Nikos Mainaris, 30, runs a t-shirt store on the same street and hopes that "the government falls."
Panayotis Hadztheodorou, 33, runs a bar and bookshop in Athens, which was damaged in the violence. He estimates the repairs will cost around 20,000 euros (26,780 dollars) and has little love for the rioters.
"Fortunately, I have run a construction business, so I've got some workers on the job ...
"But this time, I would advise that no-one comes around here acting funny. I won't let them get away with it," Panayotis said.
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