Greece general strike: Athens protests turn violent as youths throw Molotov cocktails at police

Nearly 25,000 people participated in three separate demonstrations to protest bailout-related tax hikes and spending cuts

Union members protest against further austerity measures during a nationwide general strike in Athens in which youths clashed with riot police (AP)

Clashes have briefly broken out between riot police and youths in Athens during the first general strike since the country’s left-led government came to power in January.

Youths broke away from a protest march by thousands as it passed outside parliament and threw Molotov cocktails at police who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

Nearly 25,000 people had been participating in three separate demonstrations in Athens, according to police figures, protesting at bailout-related tax hikes and spending cuts. The 24-hour general strike has caused disruption across Greece, with public services shutting down.

The main party in the governing coalition – Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza – has shown sympathy for the strike. The party’s department that deals with labour policy called for mass participation in the walkout to protest at “the blackmail from financial and political centres within and outside Greece.”

AP