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Athens, Greece – A march in front of the United States Embassy in Greece, held on Saturday for the anniversary of the 1973 student uprising, was peaceful, while police and anarchists clashed in Athens and in the next two years big cities well after dark.
About 6,000 additional police were present to monitor the march of the University's uprising site, the National Technical University of Athens, at the Embassy. The prevailing military dictatorship over Greece violently repressed the uprising and many Greeks accused the United States of supporting the 1967-1974 regime.
In the end, most of the problems occurred elsewhere.
Police said that a group of about 300 agitators in the capital had erected barricades and fired incendiary bombs and stones at police officers, who fired back with tear gas and stun grenades.
In Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece, officers clashed with about 200 anarchists and launched a powerful barrage of incendiary bombs. At least ten people were arrested. Five more people were arrested in Patras after an unknown number of attackers attacked police officers, police said.
About 15,000 people participated in the march organized earlier to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the student rebellion. The exact number of deaths in the uprising is unknown. Estimates range from 18 to 40.
While the event went off without a hitch, ministers and other marchers representing the ruling party, Syriza, were dumped plastic bottles and coffee cups in front of the embassy.
And to give an indication of what was coming, a group that marched in front of the embassy attacked officers in a subway station in front of the Athens police headquarters, authorities said. Eight suspects were arrested, the police said.
Two others were held outside the university, also known as the Polytechnic.
Municipal employees had removed the trash cans that protesters often use as improvised barricades. Offices and other furniture were brought from the university for them. Others climbed on the roofs inside the polytechnic complex and threw Molotov cocktails and stones on the officers.
Police brought a water cannon to the scene, but used it to extinguish the fires because the fire trucks would not approach the area.
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Costas Kantouris reported from Thessaloniki.
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Follow Kantouris on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CostasKantouris
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