Police arrested at least 160 youths and raided what they said was a firebomb-making hideout on Saturday in an effort to prevent riots on the anniversary of a fatal shooting of a teenager by a police officer.
Police said they raided a house in the Athens district of Keratsini, near the port of Piraeus, and arrested 20 people on the spot. They were attacked with rocks by about 60 youths and three police cars were destroyed, police said.
The youths then occupied Keratsini City Hall, before police broke in several hours later and arrested 41 people.
The house contained several sledgehammers, gas masks, a stun grenade and 200 empty beer bottles used to make firebombs. Police also seized a computer.
Separately, a memorial gathering at the central Athens spot where 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot on Dec. 6 last year was peaceful, but later some anarchist youths attacked police and burned two cars.
Fourteen were arrested, including five Italians and three Albanians.
Driving rain and a heavy police presence limited the incidents on Saturday night, but authorities were bracing for a possible outbreak of violence yesterday, when a memorial service for Grigoropoulos and at least two gatherings were scheduled to take place.
Grigoropoulos’ family were holding a memorial service at a cemetery south of the city center yesterday morning. A demonstration was planned for 1pm in central Athens yesterday to mark the anniversary of the shooting.
Another gathering was scheduled to be held at night, again at the spot where Grigoropoulos was shot. A demonstration was also scheduled early yesterday afternoon in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
The boy’s shooting last December provoked two weeks of unprecedented rioting in Athens and other Greek cities.
Thousands of youths took to the streets and, while most of the violent incidents were perpetrated by a core of anarchists estimated at about 1,500, many youths with no previous records joined the mayhem.
There has also been a surge in armed attacks by far-left and anarchist groups after the shooting.
One police officer has been killed and another seven injured in three separate shootings, while bomb attacks targeted the Athens Stock Exchange, banks and a McDonald’s restaurant.
At least 6,500 police officers are constantly patrolling the streets of central Athens, on foot or on bikes, and have conducted several spot checks.
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