Clashes at Greek demos to mark teen's police shooting-70 people arrested.Tear gas shot to control crowd.

The anniversary was a test of resolve for Greece’s two-month-old socialist government which, unlike its conservative predecessor, has ordered the police to take a zero-tolerance stand



Police clashed with hooded demonstrators in central Athens as protesters marked the first anniversary of a teenager’s fatal shooting that triggered riots in the city a year ago


A marble memorial to Alexandros Grigoropoulos at the spot where he was killed last year


More than 6,500 policemen fended off stone-throwing demonstrators with teargas


Athens has seen a spike in militant far-left attacks on police in the past year, sometimes with bombs, pistols and Kalashnikov machine guns


A demonstrator taunts riot police near a burning barricade. Despite the minister’s tough words, Exarchia remained tense at nightfall


Protesters occupied the headquarters of Athens University, seriously injuring the university rector and a janitor, who were taken to hospital with head wounds


"We will not allow a commemoration of the youth’s death to turn into mass violence," Mr Chrysochoidis warned last week, amid reports that foreign youths were heading for Athens to join the protests


On December 6 last year Alexis Grigoropoulos, 15, was killed by a police bullet during a late-night standoff between a group of hooded youths and two policemen in the Exarchia district


Michalis Chrysochoidis, the Minister for Citizens’ Protection and administrative head of Greece’s law enforcement agencies, said that this year street violence would be suppressed before it developed into wider mayhem


There were moments when the cordoned-off streets around Syntagma Square in the centre of the city became battlegrounds


More than 60 people were arrested and several officers were injured



The shooting sparked two weeks of destruction in central Athens as the police were ordered to maintain a passive stance so as not to enrage the rioters further



Hooded youths broke from the march of more than 3,000 people to smash shop windows, set fire to garbage bins and hurl stones at police




Residents stand next to a memorial for Alexandros Grigoropoulos on the spot where he was shot dead by a policeman a year ago in central Athens, on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. More than 6,000 police officers will be deployed in Athens this weekend in an attempt to quell violence that might be associated with the first anniversary of the fatal police shooting of a 15-year-old Grigoropoulos. The memorial reads in Greek "in memory of young Alexandros he was only 15 years old".


Residents stand next to a memorial for Alexandros Grigoropoulos on the spot where he was shot dead by a policeman a year ago in central Athens, on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. More than 6,000 police officers will be deployed in Athens this weekend in an attempt to quell violence that might be associated with the first anniversary of the fatal police shooting of a 15-year-old Grigoropoulos. The memorial reads in Greek "in memory of young Alexandros he was only 15 years old".


In this Dec. 12, 2008 file photo riot police face protesters in Athens' main Syntagma Square, after the fatal police shooting of a teenager on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008. Police announced plans on Friday, Dec. 3, 2009 to deploy thousands of officers in Athens at the weekend, as protests got under way to mark the Dec. 6 anniversary of major riots sparked by the police shooting of a teenage boy. Authorities said up to 6,500 police will be on duty Saturday through Monday

Protesters hurled rocks and burning garbage at police Sunday as violence erupted during a march to mark the first anniversary of the police shooting of a teenager, whose death sparked massive riots.

Police fired tear gas at scores of hooded youths in central Athens, as several thousand demonstrators marched to commemorate the death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

The rioters smashed bank windows, overturned trash bins and hurled rocks and fire crackers at riot police. Authorities said 48 people were detained for public-order offenses. At least five protesters were injured in the clashes.

Police on motorcycles chased rioters amid scenes of chaos at Athens' main Syntagma Square, with youths punching and kicking officers pushed off their bikes.

At Athens University, masked protesters broke into the building and pulled down a Greek flag, replacing it with a black-and-red anarchist banner.

Violence also broke out in Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city, where youths threw petrol bombs at police, set fire to several cars and smashed 10 storefronts, including a Starbucks cafe. At least 20 people were detained in the northern city.

More than 6,000 police had been deployed across greater Athens in anticipation that demonstrations would turn violent. Protests were held in the capital and several other Greek cities.

Concern was heightened by reports that far-left groups and anarchists from other European countries have traveled to Greece to join the marches.

Ahead of Sunday's clashes, police detained 160 people following minor clashes in central Athens and a raid on a cafe, where police seized sledgehammers and firebomb-making equipment.

Grigoropoulos was killed by a policeman's bullet on the evening of Dec. 6, 2008. Within a few hours of his death, riots spread from the Greek capital to several cities across the country, with police apparently powerless to prevent youths from smashing, looting and burning stores in violence that continued for two weeks.

The new Socialist government, which came to power in October and has been confronted with a surge in armed attacks by far-left and anarchist groups after last year's shooting, and had vowed a zero-tolerance approach to violence at Sunday's commemorations.


---------

----------

RELATED POSTS:-

• Jaycee Dugard Tells the World She's Getting Her Life Back
• NASA probes give moon a double smack
• Chicago Teenager's Gang-Related Beating Death Caught on Tape-2 held without bail for murder 1st degree
• "Worst of the Worst murder case" said Police- Mum, 5 kids killed in US
• Search dogs detect something on Garrido property- May found bodies in the house property.
• Lab Technician Is Charged in Yale Grad Student's Killing - Believe as Workplace violence.
• Clashes at Greek demos to mark teen's police shooting-70 people arrested.Tear gas shot to control crowd.
• Muslims will empty their Swiss accounts: Turkish minister
• Iraq reporter who throw shoe at Bush , get back own medicine.
• University of Calif. approves big fee hikes,$2,500 student fee increase -Student protests,pepper sprayed
• Karzai needed convincing twice on new election
• World Leaders gather for G20 summit - Protests mayhem in hundreds.
• "If I could, I would take this . . . ball and . . . shove it down your throat."Selena said in US open tennis-Fined USD10,500..possible further ban.
• South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson yells 'You lie!' to the president
• Rep Joe Wilson In an extraordinary breach of congressional decorum shouted " You lie" at President of Americaa guest of the House and Senate.
• Chancellor Angela Merkel defends German mission in Afghanistan
• 5 Killed In China Protests Over Syringe Attacks
• Athens on Fire..Thousands home affected.
• Cold murder sentenced 26years in prison.Amanda Knox found guilty-4.4 euro million in compensation
• Robber shot dead part time money charger worker.Stole $10 000 pounds and laptop.Shot dead cold blood.