Extensive clashes in Exarchia
Anarchists threw more than 60 Molotov cocktails as well as rocks and pieces of wood at riot police in Exarchia, central Athens, on Saturday night as officers responded with tear gas in the worst clashes recently seen in the area, authorities said. The group of some 80 self-styled anarchists attacked the police at about 11 p.m. after spending the earlier part of the day protesting in support of three other anarchists who are staging a hunger strike in custody. A storefront and the entrance to an apartment block in Exarchia were damaged as a result of the clashes but no injuries were reported. Police said the group of assailants consisted of the same youths who had earlier ridden their motorcycles en masse to the hospital in Nikaia, southwest Athens, where those anarchists staging a hunger strike are being kept. Officers prevented the youths from entering the hospital and later detained 46 suspects but released them after questioning. Police did not make any arrests after the clashes in Exarchia.
