Athens Dodges Violence Before Fresh Protests

Athens yesterday enjoyed its first respite from eight days of continuous rioting that has injured 70 and put 400 behind bars—but students have called for a new wave of protests, BBC reports. Cafes were busy and traffic returned to normal just a day after students hurled rocks and molotov cocktails at police, AP reports. A peaceful vigil was held for the 15-year-old whose shooting death by police sparked the upheaval. But protests are expected to resume today.

Polls suggest Greeks see the protests more as an uprising than as a reaction to the police shooting. The government is "wasting away, collapsing and dissolving into a dead-end; its political time is finished," said the leader of an opposition party. A union official predicted the unrest will grow as the population continues to suffer the effects of the declining economy.
(More protests stories.)