Tear gas fills Thessaloniki's riot-torn streets as running battles mark end of EU summit

Anti-capitalist rioters and Greek police were in an uneasy stand-off last night in Thessaloniki after a day of street battles that marred the end of the European Union summit held at a seaside resort outside the city.

More than 2,000 self-proclaimed anarchists barricaded themselves inside the campus at the Aristotle University after rampaging through the city centre smashing shop fronts and fighting with police. Under Greek law police cannot enter the campus but a large force of riot police surrounded it while police helicopters hovered overhead.

The city's streets were carpeted with rocks and broken glass as fire crews toiled to put out fires left by a mob of rioters that had run amok earlier. Underfoot thousands of spent tear gas canisters mingled with trampled protest placards calling on people to "Stop Nato, US and EU".

Late in the afternoon the anarchists broke from the group of 50,000 peaceful demonstrators, throwing petrol bombs and starting fires, while riot police responded with volleys of tear gas that filled the city centre with acrid smoke.

The first major attack was against a McDonald's on Thessaloniki's main Egnatia Avenue. The steel shutters were torn and the property set alight. Hooded men attacked journalists trying to take pictures of the blaze.

Rioters, dressed in black, many wearing gas masks, body armour and carrying sticks and metal bars fought a running battle with riot police, setting alight cars and targeting outlets of international brands like Vodafone.

In the worst of the clashes hooded anarchists, from the so-called Black bloc and Salonika action group, wheeled supermarket trolleys filled with rocks into Aristotle Square to throw at police. Thousands of protesters from Greece's General Workers' Union were caught in the crossfire and had to run for cover under a hail of gas canisters, petrol bombs and rocks.

"This is like Iraq, you can't breath and they've turned this into a war zone," complained resident Yiannis Fantis.

The main mob of violent protesters escaped the police cordon to retreat to the university, which they have used as a base throughout the three days of protests, staged to coincide with EU meetings on immigration and security.

"There have been around 25 to 30 arrests and several people have been rushed to hospital," the police said.

Controlling the violence was made more difficult by organisers' decision to stage five separate and simultaneous marches, with thousands of demonstrators spread across the whole city, a police official said.

The main bloc of peaceful demonstrators converged on the American and British consulates, both protected by a huge security force. Marchers carried banners denouncing Tony Blair and the US President, George Bush, as "Imperialist Murderers".

On Friday, protesters engaged in serious clashes with police outside the Porto Carras complex, the location of the summit, after trying to break through a high-security cordon. More than 15,000 officers have been involved in a security operation unprecedented in Greece and widely seen as a rehearsal for anti-terrorism measures at next year's Olympics in Athens.