Greek police accused of using protester as human shield

The visit of German chancellor Angela Merkel, this week, to cause angry demonstrations, in which denounced that riot police used a female protester as a human shield.
Witnesses told  the woman was handcuffs to cover riot police.

The inquiry into the human shield allegations was opened after photographs of the incident began to circulate on the internet. Lieutenant Colonel Christos Manouras, Greece's police spokesman. "We want to find out what these pictures hide."

The photographs showed a woman is seen being escorted by riot police before being placed in front of the unit when it encounters stone-throwing protesters.Witnesses said the woman appeared to be disoriented and terrified.

Foula Pharmacides, a shipping company employee, say: " The girl was falling down and he was picking her up. She was crying and clearly terrified. I couldn't believe it. You only ever see this sort of thing in the movies. Everyone started screaming 'Shame on you! Shame on you!' I remember there were two women next to me and they were crying, too, and screaming for the police to stop."

Veteran photographer Spyros Tsakiris, who also witnessed the incident, said:
As Greek descends into further chaos amid mounting social and political tensions, accusations of police brutality are growing. In recent months, reports have multiplied of codes of conduct being flouted by law enforcement officers.

"Since democracy was restored in 1974 [with the collapse of military rule] I have attended hundreds of demonstrations and have seen police sit on people and kneel on people, but never someone being used as a human shield," he said.


If you want read the news:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/11/greek-police-protester-human-shield