The Cradle of Democracy was on fire last night as angry protesters fought battles with riot cops, setting cars and buildings on fire in an horrific night of violence. Public anger has been brewing in Athens, Greece, for several months with large street protests in the capital demonstrating over everyting from pensions to the government’s handling of a recent rail disaster.
But frustration boiled over into anger overnight as hundreds of people decided to choose violence, turning parts of Greece’s largest city into a warzone. Pictures show flames roaring in the middle of Kallidromiou, Benaki, Charilaou Trikoupi and Methonis streets, and in the Exarchia neighbourhood, the police station was attacked with petrol bombs, stones and fireworks.
Cops fought back against demonstators launching tear gars and flash grenades into the baying crowds, as explosions were heard from burning cars.
In a bizarre moment, many people looked on from balconies along the apartment-lined roads at the mayhem unfolding on the streets below.
More than 70 arrests have so far been made, and at least one police officer has been reported to have been injured. The Sun reports more than 20 cars were burned, with five destroyed, and a house and shop were also damaged.
The riots come after a bomb planted near the offices of Hellenic Train, Greece’s main railway company, exploded Friday night in a busy district of central Athens.
There were no reports of injuries. The explosion happened amid widespread public anger over a 2023 railway disaster, Greece’s worst, in which 57 people were killed and dozens more injured when a freight train and a passenger train heading in opposite directions were accidentally put on the same track.
The crash exposed severe deficiencies in Greece’s railway system, including in safety systems, and has triggered mass protests – led by relatives of the victims – against the country’s conservative government. Critics accused authorities of failing to take political responsibility for the disaster or holding senior officials accountable.
So far, only rail officials have been charged with any crimes. Several protests in recent weeks have turned violent, with demonstrators clashing with police.
Hellenic Train said it “unreservedly condemns every form of violence and tension which are triggering a climate of toxicity that is undermining all progress.”
Greece has a long history of politically-motivated violence dating back to the 1970s, with domestic extremist groups carrying out small-scale bombings which usually cause damage but rarely lead to injuries.
While the groups most active in the 1980s and 1990s have been dismantled, new small groups have emerged.
Last year, a man believed to have been trying to assemble a bomb was killed when the explosive device he was making exploded in a central Athens apartment.
A woman inside the apartment was severely injured. The blast had prompted Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis to warn of an emerging new generation of domestic extremists.
