Greeks use Acropolis as protest centre

Greek protesters hung two giant banners off the Acropolis today with slogans calling for mass demonstrations across Europe after days of violence sparked by police shooting dead a teenager in Athens.

About a dozen people held the pink banners over the walls of the ancient citadel, Greece’s most famous monument, one bearing the word “Resistance” written in large black letters in four languages: Greek, English, Italian and German. The other called for mass demonstrations across Europe tomorrow.

The banners were taken down after two hours.

Student demonstrations are already planned in Athens and Greece’s second largest city of Thessaloniki tomorrow over the killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

The riots that followed the teenager’s death are the worst Greece has seen in decades, feeding off widespread dissatisfaction with the unpopular conservative government and anger over social inequality and economic hardship.

Hundreds of shops and banks were smashed, torched or looted as gangs of masked and hooded youths rampaged through cities night after night, setting up burning barricades in the streets and clashing with riot police who fired large amounts of tear gas.

More than 300 people were detained or arrested in the rioting.

Although the rioting has abated, small-scale attacks continue.

Youths threw petrol bombs at a riot police bus in central Athens. The driver managed to escape unharmed but the vehicle was damaged.

About 100 students gathered outside the capital’s main court complex, pelting riot police guarding the building with stones, eggs, rocks and yoghurt to demand that those detained in the riots be freed.

In Thessaloniki a bank and a local citizens advice office were firebombed before dawn in attacks that caused damage but no injuries.

After a week of violence, many protesters have begun using different tactics to make themselves heard.

About 30 protesters took over the Athens office of a Greek workers’ union, GSEE, unfurling a banner from a window calling for the release of those arrested.

Yesterday a group of youths stormed into Greece’s state television and radio studios, forcing broadcasters to put out anti-government messages.

They disrupted a state television news broadcast of the prime minister’s speech, appearing live carrying banners that read: “Stop watching, get out onto the streets” and “Free everyone who has been arrested.”

In Thessaloniki, protesters broke into three local radio stations, agreeing to leave only when a protest message was read on the air.

Greece’s opposition Socialists have accused Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis’ conservative government of mishandling the crisis and worsening the effects of the global economic downturn.