Low-key riots at Nov. 17 march
Outnumbering police forces by just two to one, some 10,000 people took part in yesterday afternoon’s annual Athens march commemorating the November 17, 1973 Polytechnic student revolt, which was marred by rioting anarchists and extreme left-wingers. Police said some 300 youths joined the main body of marchers, who were heading from the Patission St Polytechnic complex to the US Embassy on Vassilissis Sofias Ave, at the Historical Museum on Stadiou St. They threw sticks, stones and flares at police outside Parliament, and targeted riot squad officers at the War Museum and the Hilton Hotel with Molotov cocktails. According to police chief Fotis Nasiakos, officers did not respond for fear of hurting innocent marchers. Rioters set up barricades of chairs seized from local cafes at Mavili Square, near the US Embassy, smashed the entrances to six blocks of flats, broke two car windscreens and burnt down a bus company ticket booth before being chased off by police using tear gas. Twelve suspects were detained, Nasiakos said, while nobody was injured. In a similar march in Thessaloniki yesterday, a state TV cameraman was injured by rioting youths, several of whom were detained.
