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Police use Tear Gas as anti obama protesters clash with Greek police

On Tuesday, Greek riot police used stun grenades and tear gas in Athens to disperse about 3,000 left-wing marchers protesting a visit by President Barack Obama after they tried to enter the restricted area to demonstrators.

When youths in motorcycle helmets and gas masks, armed with petrol bombs and wooden clubs, the violence broke out and the youths tried to break a police cordon in front of a barrier formed by police buses.

Police officers walk past flames from fire bombs thrown by demonstrators during a protest against the visit of US President Barack Obama in Athens, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016. Greek riot police used tear gas and stun grenades in central Athens Tuesday to disperse about 3,000 left-wing marchers protesting a visit by President Barack Obama, after they tried to enter an area declared off-limits to demonstrators. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)

Rioters pulled back to the Athens Polytechnic university complex, site of a 1973 student uprising, and engaged in running street fights with police, throwing dozens of petrol bombs.

Anarchist group and Left-wing who organized the protest had planned to reach the US embassy in Athens. But authorities banned demonstrations in a large swath of the city to ensure that protesters came nowhere near Obama, who was attending a dinner at the residence of Greek President Procopis Pavlopoulos.

About 5,000 Communist party supporters took part in a separate, peaceful protest in central Athens and 1,000 people protested in Greece’s second-largest city, Thessaloniki.
The violence on Tuesday placed Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ left-wing Syriza party in an uncomfortable position, formerly a key participant in anti-American and anti-austerity protests, it is now using the same crowd control measures it used to strongly deplore
The small Popular Unity party, which took part in the main protest Tuesday, described Obama’s visit as ‘a provocation’ due to that timing. Party leader Panayiotis Lafazanis also blamed the US for Greece’s economic woes.

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