Abstract

The shooting of a 15-year old student by a police officer in central Athens on December 6th 2008 would erupt into the worst rioting Greece had experienced since the restoration of democracy in the mid 1970s. Under the ideological banner of “No Control”, enraged teenage and twenty-something youths would barricade the streets of Athens, Thessaloniki and other major Greek cities and battle against the police with stones and home-made petrol bombs, burning and smashing cars, shops, banks and public buildings whilst thousands of people from all walks of life, from parents and workers to socialists and political extremists, would protest against the failings of the government in massive demonstrations. Seen as a “sign of the economic times” and a dystopic omen of the things to come rather than an isolated local incident, the Greek riots attracted international media attention, with journalists reporting before smoke-covered urban sets animated by scenes of sensational violence and destruction. The young rioters would use mobile-phone technology and social networking sites and micropublishing application on the Web to mobilize people and provide news updates. This paper explored the ways that eyewitness records of the riots, taken by both professional photographers and common citizens, were disseminated online by digitally enabled citizens using Web 2.0 micropublishing applications outside the control of mainstream media.