Rioters set upon Christmas tree

Hundreds of rioters battled police in central Athens, firebombing a credit reporting agency and attacking the city’s Christmas tree two weeks after the police shooting of a teenager set off Greece’s worst unrest in decades.

The violence followed a memorial gathering where 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos died Dec. 6, in the Athens neighborhood of Exarchia.

The rioters, using the National Technical University of Athens as a base, launched attacks against police, throwing rocks and gasoline bombs and erecting roadblocks. Security forces are prevented by law from entering the university grounds unless the school administration gives the go-ahead, and so far no permission has been given.