Protests continue for the 17th consecutive day

Protests over the shooting of a student continued in Greece for the 12th consecutive day on 17 December 2008. Students continue to occupy various schools and buildings, and new incidents of violence were reported overnight. Protesting youths have hung multi-language banners at the Acropolis calling for mass protests to take place throughout Europe on 18 December. Students have already planned demonstrations in Thessaloniki on 18 December. Protesters have also scheduled a rally for later on 17 December outside a court complex in Athens to demand that all demonstrators who have been arrested in the past few days be released. Meanwhile, a federation of public sector workers has announced that it will stage a three-hour work stoppage in support of the protesters on 18 December, which will affect city public transport systems throughout the country and result in the grounding of most flights from 1200 to 1500 local time (1000 to 1300 UTC). Additional rallies are also set to take place on 19 December.