Greece between Left and Right

Amid the stench of teargas, Greek police fought battles with hundreds of teenagers in front of parliament on Tuesday. The authorities attempted to regain control of the streets after four days of rioting8230; The worst civil violence in decades, sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager, has left a trail of looting and destruction. Athens is littered with burnt cars, smashed windows and ripped-up paving stones. Universities have been occupied, schools closed and teachers have joined students on the streets. Scores have been arrested. The government has promised no leniency for the rioters, blaming a hard core of hooded anarchists for inciting the unrest to indulge a long-standing hostility to the state. But the Socialist opposition held the government responsible for a social and moral crisis, and demanded the resignation of Costas Karamanlis, the prime minister, and immediate elections8230;

Rioting and street violence are nothing new in Greece. A hard core of far-left anarchists has been able to draw on a well of opposition to the police and government authority that goes back to the military dictatorship in the late sixties. Periodic confrontations have been exacerbated by poor policing, a slow response by the authorities and the anarchists8217; shadowy links to extremists such as the November 17 terrorists who murdered Britain8217;s military attacheacute; in Athens in 2000. The present unrest, however, has been fuelled by discontent that has many roots. Corruption scandals, including allegations of dubious land deals8230;, have undermined the government8217;s standing. The gap between rich and poor has been growing, and the economy has long failed to provide jobs to young Greeks, with unemployment at 15 per cent and many being forced to look abroad for work8230; The bitter legacy of a civil war 65 years ago has left Greek politics mired in an outdated clash between a far Left instinctively hostile to capitalism and a traditionalist Right that has done little for social inclusiveness.

From a leader in 8216;The Times8217;, London