Anarchist-led protests spread across Europe
Youths light flares as they take part in a demonstration in support of Greek high school students in Moscow as riots spread in Europe
SUSPECTED anarchist protests which have dogged Greece for the last week spread outside the country yesterday, with mobs causing violent scenes in Italy, Spain, Russia, Denmark and Turkey.
Greek diplomatic missions were vandalised, while police, local authority and media representatives were also targeted.
The upsurge took place as protests continued in Greece following the killing last Saturday of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. Yesterday, mobs pelted 20 police stations with rocks and bottles, overturned cars and blocked streets in central Athens. Police responded with tear gas as sporadic violence persisted amid Greece’s worst rioting in decades.
Four people were detained and at least one man was hospitalised with injuries, authorities said.
In a gesture which appeared designed to ease the violence, MPs held a minute of silence for the dead teen.
What were originally relatively localised protests over the killing have since been hijacked by mobs of self-styled anarchists who authorities say are looking for trouble, and yesterday they spread out of Greece for the first time.
In Denmark, 32 people were arrested in Copenhagen after protests turned violent while in Madrid and Barcelona, several police officers were injured and 11 people were arrested following clashes.
The violence also spread to Turkey, where a dozen protesters were reported to have painted the Turkish-flag red on the Greek consulate. In Moscow and Rome, meanwhile, petrol bombs were reported to have been aimed at Greek embassies.
So far, hundreds of stores throughout Greece have been damaged or destroyed as gangs of masked youths smashed windows with metal bars, looted stores and set up flaming street barricades in cities.
Greece’s conservative government has come under intense criticism for its handling of the crisis, despite authorities’ insistence that they avoided heavy-handed policing to prevent bloodshed. (© The Times, London)
- David Byers
