Hundreds of students threw fire bombs at police in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki today in a third day of riots triggered by the fatal shooting of a teenager by police and fuelled by rising economic hardship.
Dozens of people have been injured and scores of businesses destroyed in Athens and Thessaloniki during Greece's worst rioting in decades, which has piled pressure on a conservative government already falling behind in opinion polls.
The streets of Thessaloniki filled with tear gas on Monday as police chased some 300 left-wing protestors, detaining two youths. More trouble was expected later in the day in Athens, where the Greek Communist Party has called a protest rally despite the arrest of two police officers for the boy's killing.
Cars and pedestrians returned to Athens streets as Greeks went back to work, but the mood was tense. In the main shopping street, Ermou, a police team began to assess the damage.
"It is quiet now but I've never seen anything like it in my life," said Yiorgos Ganatsikos, 52, a kiosk owner. "I hope they don't continue. Otherwise, God help us."
With a 24-hour general strike scheduled for Wednesday against pension reforms and the government's economic policies, many Greeks fear the demonstrations could last for days.
RESENTMENT FLARES
The shooting angered Greek youths, already resentful about a widening gap between rich and poor. Violence at student rallies and fire bomb attacks by anarchists are common, especially in Athens' Exarchia district where the boy was shot.
"This comes at a very difficult moment for the government," said Anthony Livanios of pollster Alpha Metrics. "If this continues, it could have a devastating effect on the government and on stability."
University professors started a three-day walkout on Monday and many school students stayed away from class in protest.
"He could have been our brother. He could have been our fellow student, he could have been one of us," said Vangelis Spiratos, 13.
Ignoring government appeals for calm, leftist demonstrators and anarchists staged running battles with police after the teenager's killing late on Saturday, which shocked the nation.
Two police officers have been charged over the shooting -- one with murder and the other as an accomplice. A police statement said one officer fired three shots after their car was attacked by 30 youths in Exarchia.
A police official said the officer had described firing warning shots, but witnesses told TV he took aim at the boy, identified as 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
Violence spread across the country, as far as the northern city of Thessaloniki and the tourist islands of Crete and Corfu, leaving at least 34 injured. Police detained 20 in Athens.
On Sunday, protesters chanting "Cops, Pigs, Murderers" rained petrol bombs down on rows of Athens riot police, while helicopters hovered overhead and tear gas choked the city.
Scores of shops and more than a dozen banks were torched in the capital's busiest commercial districts ahead of the busy Christmas period. The mayor of Athens postponed the launch of holiday festivities.