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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Five days of rioting in Greece

Riot police try to avoid a petrol bomb during clashes in central Athens on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008. Riots broke out Sunday in the Greek capital as demonstrators protested the fatal police shooting of a teenager in Athens the previous night. Youths hurled firebombs, rocks and other objects at riot police, who responded with tear gas. The circumstances surrounding the shooting of a 15-year-old boy by a police special guard in the downtown Athens district of Exarchia are still unclear. But the death triggered extensive riots in cities around the country overnight, with youths burning shops, setting up flaming barricades across streets and torching cars.