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Victoria Mindova

Athenian streets are again redolent with the smell of tear gas, and sidewalks are covered with broken glass. The eyes of passers-by in the centre of Athens are red; the air is stinging and chokes the throat. Splinters from broken shop windows crack underfoot. More than 45 buildings have been burnt, but the municipality does not have an accurate assessment of the damage yet. The clashes between police and members of anarchist movements in Greece left behind ruins again - not with the inspiration of ancient architecture but steeped with the anger of Greeks who are against the system in general.

Shops, banks and fast food restaurants have suffered the most from the urban warfare of last night. The historic cinema Atikon on Stadiou Street has been damaged too. Fire trucks are parked at the central streets of the capital extinguishing the remnants of fires from the previous night. Traffic in the central streets is difficult because of the broken traffic lights at key crossroads and the fire engines parked on main roads. Brigades of the cleaning department are collecting the waste from the riots and looting. Owners of small shops are cleaning the glass from the sidewalks and waiting for representatives of the municipality to come and list the damage.

"Why do they ruin our homes?" an old woman was crying on Christou Lada Street. Besides residential buildings, there are the tourist office Travel Plan and some of the offices of Ta Nea newspaper. Citizens and guests in the city are stopping at the burnt walls and watching fire fighters extinguish the last smoking parts of shops. The Kotsovolos shop for electronics and home appliances on Stadiou Street was broken into like many other shops and portable goods were stolen. The same happened to the shop for athletic shoes FootLocker on the main shopping street Ermou. Branches of Eurobank EFG, Emporiki Bank, Alpha Bank, Marfin Bank have been burned.  The furniture shop Kosta Boda near Atikon cinema was burned to the ground. Starbucks café in the same area was also burned as well as Calzedonia lingerie shop.

Compared with the destruction along the central streets, Syntagma Square remained relatively well preserved. The central staircase of King George Hotel was broken and the marble slabs covering it are now missing. The Grande Bretagne Hotel near The King George was not damaged. It is not yet clear why some shops were vandalized and others remained unviolated.

Photos of the streets of Athens after the destruction are available in our photogallery.