Clashes erupted Wednesday in central Athens between dozens of youths and riot police, splitting in two a procession of demonstrators protesting against the austerity as part of a general strike for 24 hours, was a journalist the AFP.
The security forces, deployed by cable to the Ministry of Finance, at the bottom of the central square of Syntagma fired tear gas to repel irritants and young people, who were of various projectiles.
The police then deployed to push beyond the square mass of protesters split into two incidents and many were coughing and choking.But échaufourrées continued down from the parliament with the firing of Molotov cocktails by young troublemakers.
Police said the various processions union in Athens and Piraeus have collected some 20,000 people, and more than 60,000 according to union estimates, a significant mobilization. In Salonika, the police amounted to some 16,000 demonstrators.
Some 5,000 policemen were deployed in central Athens against the possibility of such excesses, almost automatically give in recent years at events and in particular that had marred the last union demonstration accompanying a general strike on December 14.
The Minister of Citizen Protection, Christos Papoutsis on Tuesday called for calm and "responsibility" to safeguard the country's image in front of the "international community".
The demonstrations were organized by the two major power plants in the country, the GSEE and ADEDY private to the public, and by the communist trade union front Pame, as part of a day of action against the treatment of 24H austerity prescribed in the country by the Union duropéenne and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for his financial rescue.
