Greek youth riots enter second day

ATHENS, Greece, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Youths and anarchists, angered over the police shooting of a boy, rioted in Athens and other Greek cities for a second day Sunday, observers said.

After a lull in the disturbances overnight in Athens, Thessaloniki and the northern cities of Komotini and Ioannina, police again engaged protesters furious over the slaying of a 15-year-old, the BBC reported.

Youths that had spent the night at an Athens technical college had joined hundreds of others and were marching toward the city's police headquarters, witnesses told the British network.

Protesters threw Molotov cocktails, burned cars and smashed shop windows Saturday in the wake of the shooting. Officials said the riots left 24 police officers injured and 31 shops, nine banks and 25 cars damaged or burned, the BBC reported.

The trouble was first centered in Athens' central Exarchia district, the scene of regular clashes between police and youths and anarchists who regard it as their home turf.

Greek Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos told reporters the government regretted the shooting of the boy, adding two officers had been suspended and an inquiry was under way.