Protest in Athens against police crackdown

Several thousand people demonstrated in Athens yesterday to protest recent police operations against squatters in public buildings that have been condemned by the opposition. The protesters — estimated by police at around 3,500 and nearly double that by media — marched to the Athens court complex and police headquarters to demand the release of scores of individuals arrested in the sweeps. One of the central Athens buildings, a 19th-century former school, had been occupied for over two decades. The other is a stately block of flats whose former occupants include legendary soprano Maria Callas before her rise to fame. The squat crackdowns have sparked a war of words between the conservative-led government and main opposition radical leftist party Syriza. Overnight, two district offices belonging to the conservative New Democracy party came under arson attack while an office of the socialist party Pasok, a partner in the ruling coalition, had its front windows smashed. This came after similar arson hits against the homes of five Greek journalists early on Friday that caused material damage without injuring anyone. The assailants used incendiary devices made of gas canisters, a common weapon employed by anarchist groups in Greece