Scuffles broke out and police used teargas during a mass rally in Athens on Thursday as Greeks railed against government pension reforms needed to meet demands of international creditors.
Demanding an end to austerity, about 50,000 Greeks marched peacefully on parliament in central Athens chanting for the government to ditch the proposals, which many see as a betrayal of the leftist values of the main governing party, Syriza.
Public health workers carried black balloons, and a large banner depicting a hunched-over nurse with a walking stick. "This is retirement at 67," it said, a reference to the later pension age that will come from the reforms.
Breaking away from the main march, black clad youths hurled stones and petrol bombs at police, who responded with rounds of teargas and stun grenades. Some of them smashed bus stops and set a car alight after the march, during a cat-and-mouse game between police and protesters in the back streets of central Athens.