CLASHES CONTINUE AS ATHENS MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH

07.12.2009 [13:30]
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Baku, 7 December (AZERTAC). Clashes between police and protesters continued overnight in Athens as it marked the first anniversary of the fatal police shooting of a teenager.

Riot police fired volleys of tear gas and fought running street battles with demonstrators who pelted them with rocks and set fire to rubbish bins.

However, the protests have been nothing like the riot scenes of last year.

Six thousand police have been deployed on the streets of the Greek capital.

At one point about 200 masked demonstrators were holed up in Athens`s neoclassical university building, smashing marble chunks off the steps to use as missiles against police.

City officials said the university dean suffered head injuries when youths raided the building and was rushed to hospital.

Clashes also continued overnight at Athens Polytechnic, where masked youths emerged to hurl rocks and bottles at police, who responded with tear gas.

Earlier in Thessaloniki - Greece`s second-largest city - demonstrators threw petrol bombs at police and smashed the storefront of a Starbucks cafe, Associated Press reported.

To head off trouble, riot police carried out a series of raids on Saturday across Athens, arresting more than 150 people.

CLASHES CONTINUE AS ATHENS MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH

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