ATHENS – Greek police fired tear gas at hundreds of rioting youths yesterday, in the second day of violent protests to mark the one-year anniversary of the police killing of a 15-year-old boy.
About 5,000 students, workers and leftists marched to parliament. The teenager’s death in Athens’s bohemian Exarchia district last year triggered the worst riots in Greece in decades fuelled by discontent over the economy.
“Everyone on the streets, not at the balconies! Cops, pigs, murderers,” chanted demonstrators.
Hundreds of hooded youths broke from the march to hurl stones and sticks at police, damaging cars and bus stops. A group of youths grabbed bitter oranges from trees in central Athens and flung them at police, while some threw stones at the window of a store full of customers.
Other demonstrators disagreed with the violence. “This won’t change anything, but if five million people take to the streets, we might have a chance,” said school teacher Christos Fousekis (51), as he watched a hooded boy smashing a corner shop wall with a piece of marble.
“I’m here because I want to drink my coffee in Exarchia without being afraid a policemen will kill me,” he added.
Schools, ministries and tax offices closed down and transport was halted as teachers and public servants walked off the job for three hours to join nationwide demonstrations. Riot police formed a cordon around the Athens university area, where most of the clashes took place the day before. Two policemen were injured and about 30 youths were detained in yesterday’s unrest in Athens, police said.
In the city of Thessaloniki, police fired tear gas at dozens of violent youths, who broke from a march of 2,500 people. – (Reuters)