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Violence erupts again in Greece
Source: Agencies |
January 10, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
MASKED youths clashed with police in central Athens yesterday in the first major test of the Greek government's vow to crack down on violent protesters after nationwide riots last month.
A group of demonstrators broke away from a rally by thousands of students protesting over government education reforms and hurled rocks and flares at riot police who responded with tear gas and flash grenades. At least six protesters were detained, an Associated Press reporter said.
The rally was the first demonstration since conservative Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis vowed tougher policing to counter the "catastrophic violence" of nationwide riots last month sparked by the police's fatal shooting of a teenager on December 6.
The new deputy interior minister, Christos Markoyiannakis, whose duties include overseeing the police, has promised a "zero tolerance" approach to crime.
The violence in December left hundreds of stores and bank branches across Greece damaged or destroyed and added pressure on Greece's increasingly unpopular conservative government.
The rally was one of three demonstrations in the capital yesterday. About 2,000 protesters staged a peaceful rally earlier against Israel's attacks in Gaza.
Students and academic staff were guarding buildings at Athens Polytechnic in the center of the city to stop troublemakers using the campus as a base.
Masked youths in December stockpiled firebombs on the campus before attacking riot police during near daily clashes.
"Once protesters enter campuses, the situation becomes more difficult, because there is the risk of injuries," the rector of Athens Polytechnic, Konstantinos Moutzouris, said.
Last month's riots revived fears of a resurgence of violence by shadowy far-left militant groups.
A group of demonstrators broke away from a rally by thousands of students protesting over government education reforms and hurled rocks and flares at riot police who responded with tear gas and flash grenades. At least six protesters were detained, an Associated Press reporter said.
The rally was the first demonstration since conservative Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis vowed tougher policing to counter the "catastrophic violence" of nationwide riots last month sparked by the police's fatal shooting of a teenager on December 6.
The new deputy interior minister, Christos Markoyiannakis, whose duties include overseeing the police, has promised a "zero tolerance" approach to crime.
The violence in December left hundreds of stores and bank branches across Greece damaged or destroyed and added pressure on Greece's increasingly unpopular conservative government.
The rally was one of three demonstrations in the capital yesterday. About 2,000 protesters staged a peaceful rally earlier against Israel's attacks in Gaza.
Students and academic staff were guarding buildings at Athens Polytechnic in the center of the city to stop troublemakers using the campus as a base.
Masked youths in December stockpiled firebombs on the campus before attacking riot police during near daily clashes.
"Once protesters enter campuses, the situation becomes more difficult, because there is the risk of injuries," the rector of Athens Polytechnic, Konstantinos Moutzouris, said.
Last month's riots revived fears of a resurgence of violence by shadowy far-left militant groups.
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