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‘Economic suicides’ alarm Greece, Italy Surveys by governments and nonprofits are showing an increase in mental health problems related to the financial crisis in Europe.
May 4, 2012
Tiziana Marrone, left, and a relative march in memory of her late husband, Giuseppe Campaniello, a man who set himself on fire outside a tax office on March 28 after his company collapsed. About 100 people took part in the march in Bologna.
Maurizio Parenti
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AFP/Getty Images
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April 5, 2012
A woman pushes a police officer’s shield during a protest in front of the Greek parliament, near Athens’s central Syntagma Square, in reaction to the suicide of a debt-ridden retired pharmacist. Dimitris Christoulas, 77, shot himself in the head April 4 in the square, a focal point of anti-austerity protests, reportedly crying out that he did not want to leave his children in debt.
Louisa Gouliamaki
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AFP/Getty Images
April 5, 2012
Police in Athens clashed with demonstrators for a second day at Syntagma Square, the site where 77-year-old Dimitris Christoulas killed himself. The man had left a suicide note that blamed the country's harsh austerity measures for his action. “I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life, so I don’t find myself fishing through garbage cans for my sustenance,” he wrote.
Petros Giannakouris
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AP
April 18, 2012
A woman holds a candle among trade union members in front of Rome’s Pantheon to protest the Italian government’s financial policies. Anger is growing in Italy over the reform measures and a series of suicides linked to the economic crisis. "The crisis is forcing families, young people, workers and businesses to pay a very high price, and sometimes there are experiences which end in desperation," Prime Minister Mario Monti said.
Andreas Solaro
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AFP/Getty Images
April 5, 2012
Notes, candles, flowers and cards showing a Greek Orthodox saint made for a makeshift memorial at the site where Dimitris Christoulas shot himself in Syntagma Square in Athens. Greece had the lowest suicide rate of any OECD nation before the economic downturn. The Greek Ministry of Health reported that suicides jumped 40 percent in the first half of 2011 as compared to the same period in 2010.
Kostas Tsironis
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AP
April 4, 2012
A woman places a candle at the site where an elderly man fatally shot himself at Athens's Syntagma Square. The Greek pensioner picked the busiest public area in Athens to shoot himself, leaving a note that police said linked his suicide with the country's acute financial woes.
Petros Giannakouris
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AP
April 4, 2012
Notes are pinned on the trunk of a tree to memorialize the suicide of Dimitris Christoulas. Some of the notes read, "Austerity kills," "Government of murderers" and "Enough."
Thanassis Stavrakis
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AP
April 4, 2012
A Greek Orthodox priest holds a memorial service over the death of Dimitris Christoulas. So many people have been killing themselves and leaving behind notes citing financial hardship that European media outlets have a special name for them: “economic suicides.”
Thanassis Stavrakis
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AP
April 4, 2012
Candles forming the shape of a cross were placed in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens.
Kostas Tsironis
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AP
April 7, 2012
Pallbearers in Athens carry the coffin containing the body of Dimitris Christoulas, who killed himself in Athens’s central Syntagma Square earlier that week. His suicide note suggested that financial difficulties related to the economic downtown in Greece were behind his decision. Hundreds attended the ceremony at an Athens cemetery.
Kostas Tsironis
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AP
April 4, 2012
A pedestrian covers her face to protect herself from tear gas during a violent clash in front of Greek parliament in Athens over the suicide of pensioner Dimitris Christoulas.
Kostas Tsironis
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AP
March 19, 2012
With the help of a crane, firefighters try to pull a car from the port of Piraeus, near Athens. According to witnesses, a man drove his car off the pier. The body of a man was pulled from the port in what appeared to be a suicide, port police said.
Petros Giannakouris
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AP
May 11, 2012
Dummies, representing the supposed victims of the financial crisis who have committed suicide, are hung from a bridge in Rome in protest of the government's austerity measures.
Alessandra Tarantino
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AP
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Section:/business/economy
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