Popular outrage broke out in Greece and the #kastana (chestnut vendor) hashtag caught fire after 13 policeman arrested an elderly Thessaloniki chestnut vendor for not issuing receipts.

Chestnut vendors are considered one of the poorer groups of Greek society and it was considered that the zeal shown by the police force in a public display of bravado against an elderly and weak man selling chestnuts at Aristotelous Square on Friday night.

The Greek police moved following an accusation they received and rushed to the scene of the crime, dragging the elderly man who yelled out that he wasn’t illegal.

As the police confiscated his chestnuts and equipment, the man, evidently concerned at the sight of his livelihood destroyed fell down unconscious.

Later, the man confessed that he didn’t have a license to sell chestnuts due to the fact that he owed money to his social security fund (TEVE), and for this reason, the tax office would not renew his license.

Police sources claim that they were merely carrying out their duties in a clamp down against tax evasion but they failed to answer why they don’t show the same brute force when dealing with large debt owners such as media moguls, business men, wealthy doctors… and of course, politicians!

This latest police coup follows other police “successes” such as the capture of another chestnut vendor at Karditsa, an elderly sidestreet incense seller at Herakleion, Crete, and another elderly woman selling herbs on  sidewalk in Trikala, at the Peloponnese.

Twitter caught fire: