Athens protesters throw petrol bombs, burn cars

Greek demonstrators threw petrol bombs at finance ministry offices and torched two cars in central Athens yesterday as anti-government protests entered a third week since police shot dead a teenager.

Dozens of demonstrators pelted police with eggs and rubbish outside parliament and tried to set fire to the municipal Christmas tree in the central Syntagma square. Riot police fired teargas to disperse the protest.

A small group of anarchists who broke away from the crowd threw petrol bombs at nearby finance ministry offices, causing minor damage but no injuries, police officials said.

In the upmarket Kolonaki district, youths set fire to two vehicles, causing serious damage. The violence was on a smaller scale than the days of rioting that erupted in the wake of the December 6 shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a patrolman in Athens' Exarchia neighbourhood.