Gangs of Greek students hurled stones and fire bombs at police stations in Athens suburbs today, in a sixth day of anti-government violence since the police shooting of a teenager.
Central Athens was calmer than in previous days as people returned to work after a 24-hour general strike yesterday called by unions opposed to pension reforms and privatisations.
The shooting provided the spark for an explosion of popular anger over corruption scandals and economic hardship, triggering Greece's worst unrest since the end of military rule in the 1970s. Violence has hit at least Greek 10 cities and caused property damage worth hundreds of millions of euro.
Trouble flared before dawn in Athens when students occupying the university clashed with police. By mid-morning, it spread to 15 police stations, from upmarket neighbourhoods of north Athens to the working-class west. Leftist groups planned another protest rally this evening.
Data released today showed that economic hardship is hitting more Greeks. Unemployment, especially high among young people and women, rose to 7.4 per cent in September from 7.1 in August, reversing four years of decline, and economists said it would keep climbing as the global crisis reached Greece.
"Our priority is to help social groups that are most in need and protect jobs," prime minister Costas Karamanlis said in Brussels, where he is attending an EU summit.
The police killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on Saturday ignited public anger at police brutality and economic difficulties aggravated by the global downturn.
About 500 people besieged the central police station in the northern city of Thessaloniki, while crowds gathered in the western port of Patras and the northern city of Ioannina.
More protests were announced for tomorrow and next week.
Greeks also protested in Paris, Berlin, London, Rome, The Hague, Moscow, New York, Italy and Cyprus. Attacks on a police station and bank by Spanish youths in Madrid and Barcelona today also fuelled concern about copy-cat protests.
Many Greeks are angry that the 37-year-old policeman charged with murdering the teenager did not express remorse to investigators yesterday. He said he fired warning shots in self-defence which ricocheted to kill the youth. "Pouring petrol on the flames," said Ethnos newspaper.
Epaminondas Korkoneas and his work partner, who is charged as an accomplice, were sent to jail pending trial by a prosecutor yesterday. Cases often take months to reach court.
While the Greek government, which has a one-seat majority in parliament, appeared to have weathered the immediate storm, its hands-off response to the rioting will damage its already low popularity ratings, pollsters said. The opposition socialist
party, which leads in the polls, has called for an election.
Opposition leader George Papandreou has appealed for an end to the violence.