Greek protesters take over radio, television outlets

Protracted rioting threatens the Greek economy and regional stability, the government says.

Unrest rippled throughout Greece Tuesday, with protesters hanging banners in Athens, attacking a police station, and hijacking the country's main television stations. The violence enters its second week as protesters hope to build momentum toward a planned nationwide strike on Thursday.

Violence has erupted in Greece since Dec. 6, when police shot and killed 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Exarchia, "a scruffy central district of Athens known as the anarchists' home base," the Economist explains.

In a pointed, symbolic call for more action, protesters yesterday wrapped the iconic Acropolis in Athens in a series of hung, huge banners, calling for "resistance," the BBC reports.

Elsewhere in Greece, bands of protesters clashed with police, Britain's Telegraph newspaper reports:

Protesters also targeted police in other parts of the capital, but in nonviolent standoffs, the Associated Press (AP) adds.

In one of their most strategic moves, a group of protesters in northeastern Athens hijacked a prominent television station, according to Kathimerini, an English-language newspaper in Greece.

The continuing violence spells trouble for Greece's government and perhaps the region, CNN explains.

While the police have charged the two officers responsible for the teenager's death, the government's handling of the affair has only fueled the protests, reports the Economist.

Opinion polls show a large margin of disapproval with the government's reaction, Reuters reports:

Recent revelations of a probe into a potential government corruption scandal have only added to public outrage, Agence France-Presse reports.

As the riots continue, the Greek economy is taking a beating, reports Hurriyet, an English-language newspaper in Turkey.