Deadly riots spread in Greece

Athens: Greece's conservative government appealed for calm on Sunday after the country's worst riots in years shook several cities, sparked by the shooting of a teenage boy by police in Athens.

The protests began in the capital late on Saturday soon after the boy was killed, with youths throwing petrol bombs at riot police, smashing shop windows and burning several cars. They quickly spread elsewhere, including Greece's second city of Thessaloniki, and the holiday islands of Crete and Corfu.

Athens was peaceful on Sunday, though barricades erected by protesters and charred vehicles remained on some streets, while broken bottles and rocks littered the main avenues.

Left-wing groups called for protests late yesterday afternoon in the capital.

"Regarding the planned demonstrations, everyone has the right to protest but not by destroying property or turning against innocent people," Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos told a news conference, defending the police's track record.

"No rage, even if justified, must lead to protests like those we saw yesterday. Such actions are against human rights."

Pavlopoulos said he offered to resign but this was rejected by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose fragile government has lost three ministers to scandals in the last year.

Fire services said they tackled blazes in 16 banks, about 20 shops and more than a dozen cars in Athens alone. Police officials declined to give figures for the number of people arrested or injured. "It is the first time in my life that I see the city ravaged in this way. The government is to blame," said Ioannis Damascos, 59, surveying the damage in central Athens, passersby used handkerchiefs to hide the smell of tear gas.

Two police officers were arrested in connection with the shooting of the 15-year-old boy and Pavlopoulos said the findings of a preliminary investigation would be announced today.

A police statement said one of the officers fired three shots after their patrol car was attacked by a group of youths in Athens' volatile Exarchia neighbourhood.

Witnesses told Greek TV he fired directly at the boy but a police official, said the officer said he fired warning shots.

A police spokesman said it was the first time since 1985 that police killed a minor in Greece. That killing sparked months of almost daily clashes between police and protesters.