Greek police injured in clashes with protesters

By Renee Maltezou
ATHENS (Reuters) – Thirteen policemen were injured in clashes with youths in central Athens on Tuesday after thousands of people marched through the city to mark the anniversary of a 1973 student revolt, police said.
Hundreds of self-styled anarchist youths threw stones at police, set fire to garbage cans and destroyed cars in central Athens, after more than 12,000 demonstrators took part in a peaceful march to the U.S. embassy.
Police fired teargas to disperse the youths. One person was formally arrested and more than 200 people were detained for carrying petrol bombs or throwing stones at police officers.
“During the clashes, 13 policemen were injured, one seriously, while hundreds of youths were detained,” said a police official asked not to be identified. He said no injuries were reported among the protesters.
Earlier, thousands of people, mostly students and workers, marched through the capital beating drums and chanting slogans such as “Education, Security, Work,” guarded by about 6,000 police officers, many in riot gear.
The annual march marks the uprising at the Athens Polytechnic University in November 1973 which was crushed by the military junta then ruling Greece. Dozens were believed to have been killed when tanks rolled through the school’s gates and in the surrounding streets.
The revolt heralded the end of the 1967-1974 dictatorship. Demonstrators accuse the United States of supporting the junta.
Shops closed and traffic came to a halt as the march, led by the Polytechnic’s blood-stained flag, meandered through the capital before heading for the U.S. embassy.
“We want money for schools not for armies,” the protesters chanted.
Anarchist youths often follow the march and engage in battles with the police.
This year, a group of anarchists dressed in black held a banner reading “Remember, Remember the 6th of December” to mark the police shooting of a teenager in Athens last year, which sparked the country’s worst riots in decades.
Thousands took part in a similar demonstration in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, where police fought running battles with hundreds of youths.
(Editing by Andrew Dobbie)