ATHENS: Clashes erupted between police and youths in central Athens early Sunday, leaving a tourist lightly injured, as Greek demonstrators prepared to mark seven years since police shot dead a teenager.
The tourist, a Portuguese national, was hit in the head by a stone as he passed through the Exarcheia neighbourhood where police were locked in clashes with stone-throwing youths.
The neighbourhood is a popular meeting point for anarchists and the place where 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos was shot dead by police on December 6, 2008.
Police said the clashes began around midnight (2200 GMT) when some 80 youths began throwing molotov cocktails, prompting a confrontation which lasted for at least three hours.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, the tourist, who had blood on his head but did not appear to be badly hurt, said he had entered the neighbourhood by following GPS directions back to his hotel.
"We came by the way that the GPS was indicating," he said before being taken to hospital for a precautionary check up.
Police were on high alert on Sunday for the seventh anniversary of the death Grigoropoulos, whose death triggered weeks of riots across Greece.
Demonstrations are scheduled to take place in Athens and other Greek cities, with some 5,000 police officers reportedly deployed throughout the Greek capital to prevent disturbances.
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