Athens has been ravaged by flames after rioters threw petrol bombs during a clash with police officers before 70 demonstrators were arrested.

Shocking footage emerging from the holiday hotspot showed rioters storming the streets just after midnight as the rowdy mobs came head-to-head with cops.

Around 50 people launched petrol bombs and fireworks at police officers outside a station in Exarchia and some 21 cars were left wrecked after being torched in the chaos.

Properties, local shops, and motorbikes were also set alight by protestors as terrified locals watched on in horror.

Over 70 arrests were made during the riot which lasted several hours, Greek broadcaster EPTNews reported Sunday, citing security sources. 

‘Incidents occurred on Saturday night in Exarchia where unknown persons attacked police forces,’ Greek authorities said. 

‘According to ELAS, the incidents began shortly before midnight when groups of unknown persons attacked police forces at the intersection of Kallidromiou and E. Benaki streets with Molotov cocktails and stones, with the police responding by using chemical weapons.’ 

The riots erupted after a bomb planted near the offices of Hellenic Train – Greece’s main railway company – exploded on Friday night in central Athens.

Fire erupted across Athens Sunday after rioters threw petrol bombs during a clash with police 

Vehicles linking the streets were left wrecked after being torched amid the fighting

Vehicles linking the streets were left wrecked after being torched amid the fighting

Properties, local shops, and motorbikes were also set alight by protestors as terrified locals watched on in horror

Properties, local shops, and motorbikes were also set alight by protestors as terrified locals watched on in horror 

Anonymous calls warning of the attack were made to Greek media just moments before the blast. An unknown man is said to have warned that the bomb, placed inside a backpack, would explode in ’30 to 40 minutes’ and said that ‘it is not a prank’, The Sun reported at the time.

In a statement, Hellenic Train said the explosion had occurred ‘very close to its central offices’ and said the blast had caused limited damage and no injuries to any employees or passers-by. 

Police cordoned off the site along a major avenue in the Greek capital, keeping residents and tourists away from the building in an area with several bars and restaurants. 

Officers at the scene said a bag containing an explosive device had been placed near the Hellenic Train building on Syngrou Avenue. 

The drama unfolded amid widespread public anger over a February 2023 railway disaster which saw 57 people killed, most of them young students, and dozens more seriously injured when a freight train and a passenger train heading in opposite directions were accidentally put on the same track.

Thousands have now turned out to strike and protest in Greece and abroad since the second anniversary of the collision.

It also brought about two votes of no confidence last year and again in March that the conservative government overcame.

The train’s Italian-owned operator Hellenic Train has denied knowledge of any illegal cargo on the freight train.

More than 40 people have been prosecuted, including the local station master responsible for routing the trains.

The blast happened just yard away from the Hellenic Train headquarters

The blast happened just yard away from the Hellenic Train headquarters 

A trial into the accident is not expected before the end of the year.

Earlier on Friday, the parliament voted to refer a former junior minister to justice on possible misdemeanour charges for breach of duty in connection to the aftermath of the accident.

Opposition parties say Christos Triantopoulos, who was dispatched by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the scene after the accident, authorised the bulldozing of the crash site which led to the loss of vital evidence.

Triantopoulos denies any wrongdoing and says he was overseeing relief efforts.

Greece’s intercity trains went under private management in 2017, when state-owned Greek rail traffic services operator TrainOSE was privatised and sold to Italy’s Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, becoming Hellenic Train.

Greek state company OSE still owns the tracks.

Hellenic Train’s former CEO Maurizio Capotorto was reportedly summoned to testify before a magistrate, on suspicion of giving false testimony to a parliamentary committee into the disaster in January 2024.

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