Protesters take part in an anniversary rally marking the 2008 police shooting of 15-year-old student, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, in Athens.

AFP
Athens
Hundreds rallied in Athens yesterday to protest police violence on the seventh anniversary of the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old by police, with Greece on high alert to prevent any large-scale disturbances.
With some 5,000 officers reportedly deployed throughout the Greek capital to prevent clashes and a helicopter hovering over the city centre, around 700 people joined the protest, police said.
Scuffles broke out between police and demonstrators at Athens University, and the Panepistimio and Syntagma metro stations in the city centre were closed, they said.
Before dawn, clashes had erupted between police and youths in Exarcheia neighbourhood leaving a tourist lightly injured.
The tourist, a Portuguese national, was hit in the head by a stone as he passed through the neighbourhood where police were locked in clashes with stone-throwing youths.
The district is a popular meeting point for anarchists and the place where 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos was shot dead by police on December 6, 2008 sparking weeks of riots.
Police said that the clashes began around midnight (2200 GMT) when some 80 youths began throwing molotov cocktails, prompting a confrontation which lasted for at least three hours.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, the tourist, who had blood on his head but did not appear to be badly hurt, said he had entered the neighbourhood by following GPS directions back to his hotel.
“We came by the way that the GPS was indicating,” he said before being taken to hospital for a precautionary check-up.
The young wing of the ruling leftwing Syriza party had urged supporters on Saturday to join the rallies in order to show “the strength of life against death and of creativity against destruction”.
Last year’s demonstrations descended into violence with 12 police officers injured and more than 200 people arrested.