Court firebombed as strike shuts down Greece

(LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Protesters attacked Athens' main courthouse with firebombs today during a hearing for police officers whose shooting of a teenager set off rioting across the capital.

The rioting continued as a general strike paralysed the country, shutting down schools, public services, hospitals and flights, increasing pressure on the fragile conservative government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

The police involved in the fatal shooting were testifying behind closed doors when youths hurled Molotov cocktails at the courthouse and smashed a television satellite truck. Riot police fired tear gas. At least two people were hurt.

Riot police and youths also clashed in the city centre during a demonstration by more than 10,000 people to protest at the conservative government's economic policies. But outbreaks of fighting were smaller and less widespread than in previous days, an indication that the most violent nationwide unrest Greeks have seen in years may be ending.

The demonstrations and the strike called by Greece's two largest labour unions - umbrella groups that include virtually all public-sector and many private employees - were scheduled before the riots broke out.

They were fuelled, however, by anger at the handling of the riots by the government, which holds a single-seat majority in the 300-member parliament.

"This country is not being governed. The government can no longer convince anyone," senior Socialist party member Evangelos Venizelos said in Parliament. "There is no way Mr Karamanlis can come back from this."

The policemen's lawyer, Alexis Cougias, told reporters that a ballistics examination showed that 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was killed by a ricochet and not a direct shot.

One of the officers had claimed he had fired warning shots and did not shoot directly at the boy. That officer is charged with murder; the other is accused of acting as an accomplice.

"Unfortunately this tragedy is the result ... of an act by the policeman to fire into the air. The bullet ricocheted, we have an entry wound from above," Cougias told reporters outside the courthouse. "It proves irrefutably that it was a ricochet."

He said the ballistics report was not yet complete but said he had been informed of its contents by authorities. There was no comment from prosecutors, who do not make public statements on pending cases.

Karamanlis' government has faced growing opposition over changes to the country's pension system, privatisation and the loosening of state control of higher education, which many students oppose because they feel it will undermine their degrees.

The government's support dropped lower as gangs of youths marauded through cities across the country, torching businesses, looting shops and setting up burning barricades across streets.

The clashes in central Athens escalated into running battles through the city centre, with masked youths pelting police with rocks, bottles and blocks of marble smashed from the Athens metro station entrance. The youths shattered windows newly replaced after four nights of rioting.

"The government wanted us to postpone this protest, but they are the ones who have to do something to stop this violence and to improve the quality of our lives," said one demonstrator, drama student Kalypso Synenoglou.

High-school students chanting "Cops! Pigs! Murderers!" clapped and cheered each time a riot policeman was hit by a rock. At least one person was hurt.

Clashes also broke out during demonstrations in the northern cities of Thessaloniki and Kavala.

Storeowners have accused authorities of leaving their businesses unprotected as rioters smashed and burned their way through popular shopping districts. Although police have responded when attacked by rock and Molotov cocktail-throwing protesters, they held back when youths turned against buildings and cars.

But Karamanlis has ignored mounting calls for him to resign and call early elections.

Greece has a long legacy of activism; it was a student uprising that eventually brought down a seven-year military junta in 1974.