Greek police deny role in Nigerian migrant's death
By Karolos Grohmann
ATHENS, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Police in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on Tuesday denied they had anything to do with the death of a Nigerian migrant whose fall from a balcony triggered two days of clashes with authorities.
The 25-year-old Nigerian Tony Onuoha, who was legally in Greece, was chased by two men inside a cafe late on Saturday before falling off a balcony onto the concrete pavement below, police said.
The victim was known to sell pirated CDs and DVDs to customers at cafes and restaurants in the city's Kalamaria area.
Coroners who examined the body on Tuesday said there were no signs of a struggle and the man died from severe head injuries.
Onuoha's friends, family and their lawyer say the men involved in the chase were undercover police.
"He told the men 'leave me, leave me, leave me' and then he fell. They had told him before 'police stop'," the victim's brother James told reporters.
But Thessaloniki security chief Pavlos Nikolaidis told a news conference on Tuesday: "No policeman was assigned to patrolling and checking for forged CDs on that evening."
Angry Nigerians and members of Greek anti-racist groups clashed with police immediately after his death on Saturday and again on Monday during a street protest through Kalamaria where the incident took place.
Police used teargas to disperse a crowd of about 100 on Monday. There were no injuries.
Thousands of Nigerian migrants across the country sell forged CDs to carve out a living and police have started cracking down on them in the past year.
Thessaloniki's regional council leader said the incident should be fully investigated.
"The death of the young Nigerian reminds all of us of the hardships Greeks had to endure only a few decades back to make a living as migrants," Panagiotis Psomaidis said. "The Greek state must find who is to blame and punish them."
Greece's Communist Party said his death only came to highlight "the state of terror under which the financial migrants must live".
