Greek police fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse rioting protesters as thousands marched in Athens yesterday to mark the police killing of a teenager last year, which unleashed the country’s worst riots in decades.
Hooded youths broke from the march of more than 3,000 people to smash shop windows and set rubbish bins alight. Riot police chased groups of stone-throwing protesters in deserted streets in the centre of the city, filled with tear gas. Four police officers and two demonstrators were injured and 80 people were detained, police said.
Greece’s new socialist government has deployed more than 6,000 police on Athens streets, saying it was determined to avert a repeat of last year’s unrest that hit the capital and major cities causing millions of euro worth of damage.
Last year, thousands of people took to the streets and clashed with police hours after the killing of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, destroying shops, attacking public buildings and burning cars, in rampages that went on for weeks.
The running street battles between police and hooded youths turned central Athens into a war zone, freezing business ahead of the holiday period.
The 2008 riots were fuelled by youth discontent with high unemployment and economic hardship. Protesters yesterday said the government may have changed but not much had improved in their everyday lives.
Grigoropoulos’s parents appealed for peace during the demonstrations, saying violence did not honour his memory.
Two policemen are facing murder charges for shooting the teenager.