More metro stations close after scuffles between police and protesters in Athens
Greek Police (ELAS) ordered the temporary closure of five more metro stations in Athens on Tuesday afternoon after clashes broke out between riot police and a few dozen protesters gathered outside Athens University to mark the 1973 student uprising against the military dictatorship.
Trains passing through the stations Monastiraki, Victoria, Attiki, Sepolia and Larissis Station will not make a stop. Earlier, authorities closed Metaxourgio.
Other central stations such as Syntagma, Panepistimio, Omonoia, Evangelismos and Megaro Moussikis closed at noon on Tuesday, ahead of the marches planned for the day.
The scuffles with police were brief, according to reports, and the protesters soon dispersed.
The government has imposed a ban on marches and rallies on Tuesday and Wednesday, fearful of them turning into super-spreader events in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
A few mostly leftwing groups and parties defied the ban and held low-key marches, though most gatherings proceeded without incident, and with participants maintaining physical distancing and wearing masks.
