GREECE: Hundreds attend funeral of Vivi Zoulia, one of three bank employees killed in fire during violent street protests

Record ID: 561662

  • Title: GREECE: Hundreds attend funeral of Vivi Zoulia, one of three bank employees killed in fire during violent street protests
  • Date: 8th May 2010
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (MAY 7, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WREATHES DISPLAYED ALONG CEMETERY ROAD CLOSE OF WREATH FROM GREEK PRIME MINISTER GEORGE PAPANDREOU VARIOUS OF MOURNERS GATHERED AT CEMETERY ROW OF WREATHS VARIOUS OF MOURNERS GATHERED AT CEMETERY WOMAN HOLDING A FLOWER CLOSE OF MAN HOLDING A FLOWER MOURNERS AT VIVI ZOULIA'S GRAVESTONE VARIOUS OF COFFIN BEING CARRIED OUT CHURCH VARIOUS OF FUNERAL PROCESSION
  • Embargoed: 23rd May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA5YNRE4BD9IWPNNZT9BNOF75CK
  • Story Text: A sombre atmosphere engulfed Athens on Friday (May 7) as hundreds of mourners gathered at cemetery in a northern suburb of the capital to lay to rest 36-year-old Vivi Zoulia who was killed during this week's riots over Greece's new austerity measures.
    Scores of wreaths, including one from Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, lined the church promenade.
    The silent procession of guests, colleagues and family followed the coffin to its resting place, where people placed flowers on the grave.
    Zoulia was one out of three bank employees who were killed on Wednesday (May 5) in the biggest and most violent protest since riots shook the country in 2008.
    As some 50,000 Greeks clashed with police in pitched street battles in Athens angry protesters threw petrol bombs into a bank where employees were working.
    Zoulia, another man and a pregnant woman, all of whom in their thirties, were trapped in the building and died from asphyxiation. Another five people were wounded.
    Earlier in the day Papandreou laid a wreath at a memorial of flowers and candles for the victims, erected in front of the blackened bank in central Athens.
    The deaths have shocked the Greek community as a whole, with police and the prime minister pledging to bring to justice its perpetrators.
    The protests continued into Thursday (May 6) as the parliament approved the reform program -- supported by the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- which includes tax hikes, pension reforms and deep cuts in public sector bonuses.
    Many Greeks are angry over the new plan, arguing that for decades corrupt politicians have been squeezing the states coffers without punishment.
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