Greek students hurled firebombs and stones at police outside parliament today in a seventh day of violence over the police killing of a teenager that has threatened Greece's government.
Riot police fired tear gas at the protesters, who carried banners saying "The state kills" and "The government is guilty of murder", to try to stop dozens breaking their lines.
The police have struggled to dampen the anger of young Greeks over the killing, rising unemployment and low wages. Hundreds of cars, banks and businesses have been wrecked in rioting, prompted by the shooting of the teenager on December 6th.
Police sources said they have begun to run out of teargas after using more than 4,600 capsules in the last week and have urgently contacted Israel and Germany to replenish supplies.
Prime minister Costas Karamanlis, whose New Democracy party has a slender one-seat majority and has seen its popularity ratings dive in recent months, expressed sorrow at the shooting but has condemned the destruction of private property.
He was due to hold a news conference at an EU summit in Brussels. Government officials have played down the riots, saying they were the work of a few hundred extreme leftists.
"The Bell Tolls For Karamanlis," said Ta Nea newspaper on its front page, as Greek media criticised the government's sluggish response to the crisis. "Government Under Siege; Education Protests Escalate," said Ethnos.
In bond markets, the spread between Greek debt and German benchmark bonds - a measure of perceived risk - reached its widest point this decade on Friday, at over 2 percentage points.
"We ... do not expect investors to forget this situation quickly," said David Keeble, head of fixed income research at Calyon Bank.
Yesterday, dozens of protesters hurled fire bombs and stones at riot police in central Athens but the damage was small compared with previous nights and heavy rain helped curtail the demonstrations. The protests have spread to several European cities, sowing fears of copy-cat riots elsewhere.
Many Greeks are angry that the policeman charged with murdering 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos has not expressed remorse. Epaminondas Korkoneas, 37, testified that he fired warning shots in self-defence which ricocheted.
He and his police partner, charged as an accomplice, are being held in jail pending trial, which could take months.
Greeks rushing to work today were keen for their cities to return to normal after the protests, which the Greek Commerce Confederation said caused €200 million of damage to more than 500 shops in Athens alone.
Professors formed a human chain around the main university building to try to protect it from further damage. "Rocks can ricochet too," protesters chanted to taunt riot police.
On Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Greeks joined a strike to protest against privatisations, tax rises and pension reform. Many people, especially the fifth of Greeks who live below the poverty line, feel badly hit as the global downturn affects the €240 billion economy.
Mr Karamanlis, who swept to power during the euphoria of the 2004 Athens Olympics, announced subsidies and tax relief measures for those affected, but many shopkeepers said the government should have protected their property.
In four years of conservative rule, a series of scandals, devastating forest fires and unsuccessful economic measures have erased the optimistic mood of 2004.