VIDEO: Rice's visit to Greece sparks violence (Euronews)

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A visit to Greece by the US Secretary of State has sparked mass protests in the capital. Thousands of people, mostly leftist and anti-war activists, have gathered, demanding that Condoleezza Rice leave the country. Large numbers of police have been deployed around Athens.

The demonstrators had vowed to march on the heavily protected US embassy but were pushed back by riot police firing tear gas. The rally turned violent when some protesters including a small group of anarchists clashed with security forces. They threw fire-bombs, burnt cars and smashed shop windows. There have been no reports of injuries.

There is a long tradition in Greece of activists protesting against visits from US officials. Away from the violence, Rice was greeted by her Greek counterpart, meeting later with the Prime Minister. She said on the agenda were discussions on the Balkans and ways to end the division on the island of Cyprus. Rice is on a five-day tour of Europe - her next stop is Turkey.

http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=355851&lng=1#

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1. Riots greet Condoleeza Rice in Athens

(UPI Top Stories Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was met in Athens Tuesday by masked rioters throwing gasoline bombs and stones to protest her arrival.

Some 5,000 extra police were deployed throughout the Greek capital for her official visit, many of them in full riot gear, the Kathimerini news service said.

Scores of store windows, cafes and hotel lobbies lining one of Athens' premier shopping districts were damaged. Three vehicles were wrecked during a 20-minute rampage, the International Herald Tribune reported.

An estimated 3,000 peaceful protestors carrying giant banners reading Rice Go Home dispersed when police began lobbing tear gas into the crowd. There were conflicting reports on the number of arrests.

Rice held talks with her counterpart, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, on the situation in Iraq and Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program as well as Cyprus and Greek-Turkish relations. She also met with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis before continuing her tour of the region, which includes a trip to Ankara, Turkey and possibly Nicosia, Cyprus.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/04/25/1605667.htm

[KingFlorez]

2. Chaos wherever they step

[cliss]

3. Turkey next?

OMG...why is she doing this? CondaLiar Rice is like a tornado, tearing through countries and leaving destruction in her wake.

Turkey is unstable right now, with the Kurd situation in Iraq and Turkey simmering. Was she invited?

I suspect not. She probably went over there to harass them for some concessions, like maybe sending in some troops into Iraq....or maybe just to rag on them.

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5. She's there to line up support for bombing Iran,

according to the Euronews analyst I heard interviewed this morning on BBC Five Live.

All the countries on her tour are nations in which we have vital strategic interests in the event of an invasion of Iran, and she will ask for support and resources from Turkey, the Balkan nations and all the other nations she stops in in the next few days.

In addition, Athens was one of the cities with the largest demonstrations 3 years ago against the Iraq war.

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4. Rice discusses Cyprus amid violent Greek protests (Reuters UK)

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-04-25T125915Z_01_L25476713_RTRUKOC_0_UK-GREECE-USA-RICE.xml

By Stuart Grudgings and Alkman Granitsas

ATHENS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Cyprus on Tuesday to support Turkey's efforts to join the European Union, during a visit to Athens marked by violent protests.

As Rice met her Greek counterpart Dora Bakoyanni and Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, riot police hurled teargas at demonstrators trying to march to the U.S. embassy.

Police said 9 protesters were arrested in the clashes, which wrecked at least 10 central Athens shops and 4 cars. No injuries were reported.

Rice, on a five-day trip to Europe that also includes Turkey and Bulgaria, said work needed to be done on Cyprus's 32-year division -- a source of tension in Greek-Turkish relations and a major stumbling block to Turkey's EU hopes.

MORE, PHOTO

[cliss]

6. Thanks, redacted.

That's a horrible photo of CondaLiar Rice in that article.

[redacted]

7. Thanks Cliss; I'd post the photo, but haven't learned how to do that yet

It's on my DU to-do list, along with setting up a journal.

Know anybody who could help post it? You're right, it's quite a remarkable photo.

[cliss]

8. Oh, here's what you do.

You go to a web site that will let you store pictures. I forget; otherwise I'd direct you to one. You need to set up an account; it's usually free. Then you link the photo to that web site.

I know it's weird; I thought you could just save a photo in 'My documents' and then post it here. But it has to be linked somewhere. Hope that helps!

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9. Thank you cliss!

On my list for this weekend.