Greece: Mayor says Athens damage ‘irreparable’

Athens is counting the cost of damage and clearing the debris from the streets, the day after violence and flames greeted the parliamentary vote on austerity measures.

The city's mayor, Giorgios Kaminis, who this morning visited the buildings that were set on fire, said that 45 shops and offices had been destroyed and called the damage "irreparable".

Police say that 68 of their number and 70 protesters were injured in the clashes and that 137 people were arrested or detained.

Panepistimiou, Ermou and Stadiou Streets and Syntagma Square were worst affected by the Black Bloc members, who according to police estimates, numbered between 500 and 700.

The symbol of the fires that lit up the Athenian night was a large neo-classical building on Panepistimiou (University) Street, where firefighters are still working this morning to put out the remaining flames.

The roof has caved in and the building is now likely to be knocked down. A short distance away, on the pedestrian Korai Street, the Asty cinema was set ablaze and a site known as a "Place of memory", where the Nazis tortured Greek partisans during the Second World War, was ravaged.

Many shops have been looted, with desperation this morning writ large across the faces of the owners. "We had been here since 1978," said one old man amid the rubble of his shoe shop. Protesters smashed windowsills, traffic islands and building fronts to obtain stones to throw at police. Incidents were also reported in six other cities in the country, most notably in Volos, in northern central Greece, where the town hall and a bank were set alight.