Young people and the police during the Covid-19 pandemic: the case of Greece

This chapter interrogates the tension and conflict between young people and the police during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece. As early as mid-March 2020, the aggressive lockdown approach featuring curfews and other restrictions on movement in public spaces brought the police to the foreground of pandemic control. Police actions affected young people severely as they involved disruptions in education, social activities, and lifestyles. Moreover, the government's narrative and police enforced policies led to a gradual redefinition of young people in public discourse as a particularly risky and allegedly ‘problematic’ category, furthering the economic and social marginalisation of young people since the onset of austerity in the 2010s. We argue for an understanding of the growing tension between young people and the police as an instance of the neoliberal management of youth populations in contemporary Greece.