Athens up in flames after police clash with anarchists (photos-videos)

Greek police arrested six people and took 24 others into custody, during Tuesday’s widespread violent protests, on occasion of the 8th anniversary of the murder of a student named Andreas Grigoropoulos by police. Four cars were destroyed during the street battles between security forces and the anarchist and anti-establishment groups in the centre of Athens around the district of Exarchia and the Athens Polytechnic and its surrounding streets. Police adopted a passive stance with limited use of tear gas against the anarchist groups, which used hundreds of petrol bombs and pavement slabs as weapons against officers, resulting in three police men suffering minor injuries. Despite police having information and evidence, following the discovery of 150 petrol bombs stashed in an Exarchia apartment last week, and leaflets put on vehicles by the anarchists warning car owners to move their vehicles from the wider area and surrounding streets, they failed to prevent the destruction of private and public propertyClashes, which started at 7pm when the bulk of the anarchist group gathered in front of the Polytechnic University on Patision avenue and started launching molotov cocktails at police units, lasted for over 5 hours. The area of Exarchia resembled a war zone, when groups of anarchists, positioned on the terraces of apartment houses located in the streets of Exarchia, rained down tens of petrol bombs against anti-riot units whenever they would move forward to dispel the protesters in the area. Meanwhile, clashes with police also occurred in other Greek cities like Thessaloniki, Heraklion and Volos.