| GEO World | | General strike adds to protest woes in Greece | Updated at: 1230 PST, Thursday, December 11, 2008
ATHENS: The Greek government on Thursday defended its response to the crisis that has gripped the country since a teenager was fatally shot in a police confrontation last weekend, saying that officials in Athens had chosen not to crack down on a violent minority in an effort to avoid further bloodshed.
Even as new clashes erupted during a general strike that disrupted transport, schools and other services across Greece, a government spokesman said that he expected the crisis to tail off.
The statement coincided with an offer by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis to compensate shopkeepers whose premises have been damaged in the riots that have swept Greece since Saturday, when the police shot and killed Alexandros Grigoropoulos, 15.
Tensions remained high Wednesday in Athens and other big cities. Fighting erupted outside Parliament, where several thousand demonstrators had gathered to mark the general strike, and outside the main courthouse in the capital, where two police officers involved in the shooting that started the riots were testifying behind closed doors. The riot police reacted by firing tear gas as youths threw rocks and gasoline bombs. |  |
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