Scattered violence was reported around the Athens polytechnic early Saturday evening, mostly masked youths rocking firebombs and rockets at assembled riot police, as the annual commemoration of a students' uprising against a military junta in 1973 again provided the occasion for small-scale rioting.
Riot police mostly responded by lobbing tear gas in the direction of the rioters. The polytechnic's main campus is located within walking distance from Exarchia square, a hub for self-styled anti-state and anarchist groups, with Saturday nights often punctuated by similar violence in the specific district.
Earlier, a peaceful protest march concluded in front of the US embassy in Athens after beginning at the Athens polytechnic's main building.
The university, officially called the National Metsovion Polytechnic, was the center of an uprising against a dour military junta then ruling Greece in 1973. Army and police units 45 years ago violently put down the protests after storming the campus on Nov. 17.
Small-scale disturbances were later reported outside the main police headquarters on Alexandras Avenue, after the protest march ended, with eight people detained.
