ATHENS, Greece — Hundreds of youths rioted in Athens on Saturday, throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at police who responded with tear gas at a May Day rally against austerity measures being adopted by the cash-strapped government to secure $60 billion in foreign loans to stave off bankruptcy.
Police made at least nine arrests, including six people suspected of looting a shop. Seven officers were injured, along with two demonstrators.
Responding to calls from the country’s two main labor unions, several thousand people marched in major Greek cities Saturday against the anticipated spending cuts and consumer tax increases.
In Athens, groups of black-clad anarchists in hoods and motorcycle helmets smashed three shop and hotel windows and set up barricades of burning trash bins. About 17,000 people took part in the march, according to police estimates.
Demonstrators heckled and threw plastic water bottles at former parliamentary speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis, a governing Socialist lawmaker, after spotting him among pedestrians on the sidelines of the Athens march. Kaklamanis, 73, was hit and kicked but suffered no major injuries and was eventually whisked away by police.
