28 arrested after Greek annual anti-junta demo

Greek police said they have arrested 28 people for violence that followed a large demonstration in Athens to mark the anniversary of a 1973 anti-junta uprising. “In some cases, groups of persons attempted to carry out unlawful action and attacked police forces,” the police said in a statement late on Sunday. Most of the incidents occurred in the bohemian Athens district of Exarchia, where police forces were also accused of unprovoked aggression. A woman said she was struck on the head while standing in the street, and a journalist said he was also hit after filming one of the attacks. Separately, several youths were arrested after Molotov firebombs and stones were found on a roof, in an apparent plan to ambush riot police passing below. Over 30,000 Greeks demonstrated in Athens and other major cities under a heavy police presence Sunday to mark the anniversary of a 1973 anti-junta uprising, the first since the election of the new conservative government. The protest, one of the largest, was heavily influenced by opposition to the four-month administration of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, elected in July on a pledge to strengthen law and order.–DT