‘Pressure Cooker’ Greek Riots Fueled by Graft, Economic Woes
By Natalie Weeks and Maria Petrakis

Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- With tear gas and smoke lingering in the air, Spiros Politis stood in front of his Athens drugstore, ready to open after rioters firebombed the building next door.

In the small hours yesterday, the 46-year-old defiantly put out the blaze as youths pelted police with stones and threw Molotov cocktails in some of the worst violence since student rebellions helped topple a military junta in the 1970s.

“Traditions that bound society have deteriorated,â€