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Hundreds of Greek youths fought running battles with police in
Athens as anti-government protests entered a third week since
police shot dead a teenager.
Students threw stones and petrol bombs at riot police outside
university buildings late into the night after a vigil to mark the
December 6 killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos turned
violent.
Police blocked surrounding roads and fired teargas at the youths,
who sheltered in the university campus which police are banned from
entering.
A group of anxious mothers waited outside to escort their
children from the building.
"There are more than 600 students and they're running in and out of
the university, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails," said a
police official, who asked not to be named. No injuries were
reported.
Across the country, hundreds of schools and several university
campuses remain occupied by students.
In the northern city of Thessaloniki, demonstrators briefly
occupied a radio station and a cinema.
The protests, the worst Greece has known in decades, have fed on
anger at youth unemployment, government reforms and the global
economic crisis.
For most of Saturday, Athens was calm and the streets were busy
with Christmas shoppers.
As darkness fell, a group of anarchists rampaged through the
upmarket district of Kolonaki, torching two cars and throwing
petrol bombs into the office of a company supplying credit data to
banks and the finance ministry, police said.
A police official had earlier said the offices belonged to the
finance ministry.
Earlier, a march in support of immigrants' rights ended in scuffles
with police when demonstrators pelted them with eggs and rubbish
outside parliament.
Some protesters tried to set fire to the municipal Christmas tree
in the central Syntagma square outside parliament, a replacement
for a tree burnt down in earlier demonstrations.
Riot police with shields formed a circle round the tree while
protesters danced round them holding hands.
Union leaders and students have announced more rallies for the New
Year.
The protests have caused hundreds of millions of Euros in damage,
rocking a conservative government that has a one-seat majority and
trails the opposition in polls.
Some analysts say continued street protests could force early elections.
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