PM insists right to assemble fully protected, amid protests

Hundreds of demonstrators are seen marching outside Parliament in Athens on Thursday to protest a draft law being discussed by MPs attempting to regulate street protests in the country. The march was marred by clashes, with rioters launching firebombs at riot police who fired tear gas. Inside Parliament the debate ahead of the vote on the bill culminated in a clash between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras. The PM dismissed criticism of the opposition that the bill will stifle dissent, saying that the right to assembly is fully protected. Tsipras charged that the bill challenged ‘the constitutionally guaranteed right to demonstrate, to rally, to protest.’ [Kostas Tsironias/ANA-MPA]