Fresh clashes hit Greek capital

Advertisement

Police defend themselves from attack

Greek students have attacked police in the capital, Athens, in the latest outbreak of protests over the killing of a teenaged boy last Saturday.

The authorities say at least one person was injured as protesters threw stones and firebombs at a police station, near the city's main university.

Students are also reported to have set up road blocks in some parts of Athens.

A policeman has been charged over the youth's death. His lawyer says the bullet that killed him was a ricochet.

But the ballistics report has not yet been officially published.

An unnamed police official said that an elderly bystander had been taken to hospital after being struck by a rock in the latest violence.

A further incident was reported outside a university and one of Greece's biggest prisons in the Athens suburb of Koyrdallos.

There were also reports of unrest in Thessaloniki, Greece's second city.

Hundreds of buildings and businesses across the country have been damaged in the five days of rioting.

'Resign'

The rioting has damaged buildings and businesses across the country

Politicians have appealed for calm and Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has promised to compensate all affected businesses.

But socialist leader George Papandreou has called on the government to resign, saying it has lost the confidence of the people.

"The only thing this government can offer is to resign and turn to the people for its verdict," he said.

Epaminondas Korkoneas, the policeman charged with the murder of 15-year-old Alexandros Griogropoulos, has been held in police custody since Sunday along with a colleague who has been charged as an accomplice.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Unrest in Greece will end when the ageing, bitter anarchists and radical leftists fade away from the social and political life in Greece

Peter Tripiotis, China

Send us your comments

The Athens court ordered both men to be held in jail pending their trial. No date for the trial was set.

Correspondents say the government may impose a state of emergency to bring an end to the violence, but that there is no question of troops being called in.