Around 100 people were arrested Sunday
in Athens at banned marches to mark the 12th anniversary of the police killing
of a teenager, Greek police said.

Scores of
students, trades unionists and leading politicians on the left defied a ban on
gatherings of more than four people that had been imposed to curb the spread of
the coronavirus.

They were
paying tribute to 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on the 12th anniversary
of his shooting death at the hands of police in the Exarchia district of the
Greek capital.

The annual
march has frequently been marred by violence in the past.

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On Sunday,
city centre metro stations were shut and police deployed heavily in the
Exarchia district as surveillance drones flew overhead.

Police broke
up a similar demonstration in front of the Greek parliament on Friday.

The officer
who killed Grigoropoulos was convicted of homicide and given a life sentence,
but then released in 2019, a decision that the dead teenager’s family are
appealing in the courts.

The country
erupted at the time of his killing with students, left-wing activists and
others taking part in increasingly large protests that were also marked by
vandalism and looting.

The
conservative government has extended anti-Covid lockdown rules to December 14,
a decision the leftwing opposition has criticised as a cover for imposing
increasingly heavy-handed security measures.

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A November 17
demonstration commemorating the 1973 uprising against the colonels’ junta was
violently broken up.

On
November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against
Women, five activists were arrested for unfurling a banner in outside
parliament.