Greek police clash with anarchists after student march (2nd Roundup)

Nov 18, 2009, 0:34 GMT

Athens - Greek riot police clashed with hundreds of youths Tuesday after a student march through Athens to commemorate the 1973 uprising against the military dictatorship turned violent.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the more than 1,200 anarchist youths who trailed the march and attacked officers with stones and homemade firebombs, set garbage cans ablaze and destroyed vehicles in the centre of the capital.

The incidents occurred after more than 14,000 protestors marched peacefully from the Polytechnic University to the US embassy.

Officials said that 200 people were detained and taken to police headquarters for questioning.

At least 13 police officers were injured, according to Athens media reports.

The violence occurred as more than 7,000 riot police and plain- clothed officers were deployed in the streets in Athens and another 2,000 in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki ahead of the annual march.

Streets were cordoned off and shops, banks and government offices closed down as the march, led by the university's blood-stained flag, weaved through the capital before heading to the US embassy.

Officials had predicted that this year's march would be especially violent following the police shooting in December 2008 of a teenager, which sparked Greece's worst riots in decades.

This year, a group of youths dressed in black could be seen holding a banner reading 'Remember, remember the 6th of December,' to mark the police shooting.

Since last year's shooting, Greece has been plagued by frequent bombings, police shootings and arsons targeting banks and multinational businesses.

Every year students conduct the march from the Polytechnic University in both Athens and Thessaloniki to the US embassy to protest Washington's support at the time of the military junta.

Dozens of students are reported to have died when tanks crushed the 1973 pro-democracy uprising in front of the Polytechnic University.