With Karim yelling commands and making quick judgments as the insurrectionists—most of whom appeared to be in their late teens or early 20s—fan out to defend their territory from the assembling police force,
Gavras gives the material the kinetic immediacy of battle scenes. The police launch a counterattack aimed at gradually thinning down the ranks of the rioters as they are locked behind Athena's fortress-like walls and threaten to wage war on the Feds unless they reveal the identities of Idir's attackers.