Greek high school students take part in anti- police protests

Athens: Despite heavy rain, high school students gathered yesterday for a rally in central Athens to protest the police shooting of a teenager which sparked massive riots and led to protests in European cities.

The march through central Athens was to take place as students and other protest groups announced plans to continue daily marches and roadblocks in the capital next week.

School children staged several sporadic roadblocks around the capital yesterday, disrupting commuter traffic, police said.

Authorities said protesters also briefly occupied a private Athens radio station and read out a statement, while a citizens advice bureau in Athens and a municipal building in the northwestern city of Ioannina were also occupied.

The police killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos a week ago sparked violence in Greek cities, with widespread riots which left hundreds of stores destroyed or damaged.

Calls to resign

Since the riots erupted, protest groups broadened their demands, some calling for Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis' conservative government to resign.

Karamanlis, whose party has a single seat majority in parliament, ignored calls from protesters and opposition parties to hold early elections.

On Thursday, protesters again clashed with police in central Athens, and students overturned cars and attacked 20 police stations around the capital.

But the country was largely spared the major violence seen earlier in the week, as demonstrators turned their attention to economic hardship felt by many Greeks.

"What started as an outburst of rage over Alexandros' killing is now becoming a more organised form of protest," said Petros Constantinou, an organiser with the Socialist Workers Party.

Protesters, occupying high schools and universities, are demanding a reversal of public spending cuts, the resignation of the country's Interior Minister, and the release from custody of arrested riot suspects.

About 100 people have been arrested during the riots and 70 injured.