The Exarcheia area in central Athens became once again a battleground between police and anarchists early Sunday morning, leaving one Portuguese tourist injured.
Tension rose during a march of anarchist groups on Saturday evening through central Athens to mark the seventh anniversary of the shooting of teenager Alexis Grigoropoulos the 15-year-old who was shot dead by police on Dec 6, 2008 sparking weeks of riots.
According to sources, around 500 people gathered at Exarchia square. Two people have been arrested and at least 10 people have been detained.
The scattered attacks around Exarcheia continued through the night . Around 2:00 am, a rented van carrying four Portuguese tourists was attacked. A small croud threw rocks at the car and injured the driver on the head.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, the tourist, who had blood on his head but did not appear to be badly hurt, said he had entered the neighbourhood by following GPS directions back to his hotel.
“We came by the way that the GPS was indicating,” he said before being taken to “Giorgos Gennimatas” hospital for a precautionary check up.
A car was also said to have been set on fire.
During the day, a few hundred people rallied in Athens with police on high alert to prevent any large-scale distubances.
With some 5,000 officers reportedly deployed throughout the Greek capital to prevent clashes and a helicopter hovering over the city centre, around 700 people joined the protest, police said.
Scuffles broke out between police and demonstrators at Athens University, and the Panepistimio and Syntagma metro stations in the city centre were closed.
The young wing of the ruling leftwing Syriza party had urged supporters on Saturday to join the rallies in order to show “the strength of life against death and of creativity against destruction”.Last year’s demonstrations descended into violence with 12 police officers injured and more than 200 people arrested.
