Fresh violence erupts at Athens demo

AFP Global Edition | 2009-12-07 19:10:27

<div><p> Riot police clashed with stone-throwing youths in Athens on Monday as violence marred a second day of demonstrations held to mark the fatal shooting of a teenager by police a year ago.</p><p>Police charged the crowd with tear gas and made nine arrests after several hundred youths, some as young as 12, hurled stones at store windows and the security forces as some 5,000 demonstrators set off towards parliament.</p><p>Another two youths were arrested for pelting a police station with stones as thousands of students rallied to pay tribute to Alexis Grigoropoulos, who was shot dead at age 15 during mass youth riots last year, a police source said.</p><p> Some 6,000 officers were deployed to prevent further trouble in the Greek capital after demonstrations around the country turned violent at the weekend, with 30 people injured and dozens arrested in Athens and other cities.</p><p>The rector of Athens University, Christos Kittas, was among those injured Sunday as dozens of hooded youths broke into the university's offices on the sidelines of a large demonstration in the city centre.</p><p>Fighting between riot police and protesters left the streets around central Syntagma Square littered with chunks of broken masonry and burning piles of garbage, which was not cleared away due to a strike by refuse collectors.</p><p>The police department said 26 officers and four protesters were hurt in the clashes but the total number of injured was believed to be higher according to reporters at the scene of the violence.</p><p>Some protesters who did not take part in the clashes accused police of excessive force.</p><p>Kittas, who was hospitalised for head injuries and an irregular heartbeat, remained in intensive care Monday but his condition has improved, the director of Athens' Ippokratio Hospital told state television NET.</p><p>Police detained hundreds of protesters for questioning and placed 29 people under arrest in Athens and another 20 after similar protests in the cities of Thessaloniki, Patras, Rhodes and Heraklion, a police source said.</p><p>Some of those arrested were minors. Prosecutors are expected to press charges against dozens of demonstrators, including four Albanians, a Pole, a Canadian, a Turk, a Bulgarian and a French national.</p><p>Windows were smashed and several cars were damaged in more than two dozen stores and banks in Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities, although the damage was limited compared to the riots that gripped the country a year ago.</p><p>Another 76 people including five Italians were arrested Saturday. Some were caught inside an anarchist club which police said was used to manufacture explosives. Two are the children of a former socialist minister.</p><p>Students have occupied scores of university faculties and schools to mark the teenager's killing, according to staff unions.</p><p>Grigoropoulos was shot dead on December 6, 2008, by a police officer who claimed to have fired into the air whilst under attack from youths. His parents have appealed for demonstrations to remain peaceful, media reports said.</p><p>A family memorial service for the teenager was held early Sunday in the cemetery of Palio Faliro. The policeman accused of his death is due to go on trial on January 20 charged with homicide.</p><p>The trial was originally scheduled for this month but judicial authorities postponed it and relocated the proceedings to a town northwest of Athens.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=64965944&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>


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