Greek Riot Police Tear Gas Colleagues

ATHENS (AFP) - Greek riot police used tear gas to break up a crowd of protesting policemen in downtown Athens, leaving several of them in hospital according to the disgruntled officers.

State television showed overnight footage of around 200 uniformed policemen and coastguard blocking entrances to the country's finance and economy ministry to press for higher salaries.

"We just held a peaceful sit-in, everybody could leave and enter the ministry," police union official Dimitris Kyriazidis told AFP.

However police in full riot gear intervened when the protesters refused to budge after police chiefs told them the sit-in was illegal.

The chiefs cited a police order, signed Wednesday, banning demonstrations in front of government and public buildings in the greater Athens area.

When the protesters refused to move, the riot police fired tear gas to break up the protest.

The protesters were forced away from the building but a smaller group of 50 regrouped at the adjacent Syntagma square.

An AFP reporter at the scene saw the square sealed off by police forces on duty, with a riot police squad protecting the adjacent parliament building.

"Don't let the rascals at the top fool you," the demonstrators shouted at the predominantly younger riot police forces lined up against them.

"So much teargas wasn't even used against the anarchists in Salonica," protesting officer Argyris Kokkaras told AFP , referring to violent clashes between police and demonstrators during a June European Union (news - web sites) summit in the northern Greek city.

"Don't worry, from now on you'll get used to the teargas," said fellow disgruntled officer Antonis Skyllakos, a protest-hardened Communist Parliament member who arrived at the scene to support the demonstrators' demands.

No injuries were reported, although the protesting police said some were hospitalised due to the effects of the tear gas.

Barred from walking off the job, police and coastguard began a string of rallies on Wednesday to demand a new wage supplement to reflect the dangerous nature of their work.

The action started with a sit-in by uniformed policemen at the Athens city centre Wednesday evening. Police union spokesmen said the sit-in would continue for three days.

"We don't know what we'll do now after the police decision banning the protests," Kyriazidis said.