8<\/p>\n Athens was turned into a warzone overnight after violent protesters clashed with riot police 8<\/p>\n Emergency services were called to the scene in the Greek capital as cars exploded in fireballsCredit: YouTube 8<\/p>\n Fires were raging across several streets in the neighbourhood of ExarchiaCredit: YouTube 8<\/p>\n Street battles broke out just after midnight on SaturdayCredit: Twitter<\/p>\n Cops responded with tear gas and flash grenades, but the violence spiralled out of control, with fires raging across Kallidromiou, Benaki, Charilaou Trikoupi and Methonis streets.<\/p>\n Dramatic footage shows cars<\/a> exploding in fireballs as thick black smoke choked the sky. <\/p>\n Stunned residents, meanwhile, watched the chaos unfold from windows.<\/p>\n A total of 21 cars were torched, with five completely destroyed, and a house and a shop were damaged. <\/p>\n The entrance and ground floor of an apartment building on Emmanuel Benaki Street caught fire and had to be evacuated.<\/p>\n Fire crews scrambled to contain the inferno, with 18 firefighters and seven engines tackling the blazes.<\/p>\n Garbage bins were also set alight and used as makeshift barricades as the mob battled police in running street fights that lasted over an hour.<\/p>\n Cops detained 72 people and reported one officer injured during the mayhem.<\/p>\n Reporters on the ground for Greek media said the explosion of unrest calmed as rapidly a it started – and was over by early on Sunday.<\/p>\n Cops suspect the riot – which began after crowds spilled out of a local concert hall and turned on a nearby police station – may be linked to ongoing fury over a 2023 train disaster<\/a>. <\/p>\n Horror as bomb explodes at Brit tourist hotspot after anonymous call & cops find device in backpack<\/p>\n Greece has been gripped with fury over the Tempi crash that saw a passenger train slam into a freight train killing 57 people<\/a>. <\/p>\n Anger has boiled over regarding the crash – with the government accused of mismangement and a cover-up.<\/p>\n It has manifested in numerous angry protests and clashes with police – and a bomb attack on Friday night is also linked the the outrage. <\/p>\n \u201cIncidents occurred on Saturday night in Exarchia where unknown persons attacked police forces,\u201d Greek Police said. <\/p>\n \u201cAccording to ELAS, the incidents began shortly before midnight when groups of unknown persons attacked police forces at the intersection of Kallidromiou and E. Benaki streets with Molotov cocktails and stones, with the police responding by using chemical weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n Police are now investigating to identify the attackers, as scorched vehicles and charred debris litter the streets of Exarchia.<\/p>\n It comes just a couple of days after a bomb exploded\u00a0in central Athens<\/a> after authorities received a tip from an anonymous caller.<\/p>\n The blast took place outside the Hellenic Train offices –\u00a0Greece<\/a>‘s main railway company that was involved in the tragic 2023 rail disaster. <\/p>\n 8<\/p>\n The moment the bomb kept in a backpack explodesCredit: Vega Rent A Car Athens 8<\/p>\n Policemen close the road after a suspected bomb explosion outside of the Hellenic Train offices on FridayCredit: AP 8<\/p>\n The Tempi crash killed 57 people back in 2023Credit: AFP 8<\/p>\n Greeks have been left outraged by the crashCredit: AFP<\/p>\n Footage showed a huge flash as a padlocked backpack, reportedly tied to a pillar and left on a bike without plates, detonated following a warning call from an anonymous tipster.<\/p>\n Local media said the caller warned at 8.53pm on Friday the bomb would explode in \u201c30 to 40 minutes\u201d and insisted \u201cit is not a prank.\u201d<\/p>\n Emergency crews cordoned off the area after residents reported a loud blast. <\/p>\n No injuries have been reported, but damage is still being assessed.<\/p>\n Christos Dimas, Greece\u2019s Minister of Infrastructure and Transport<\/a>, said: \u201cThe bomb attack that took place today at the offices of Hellenic Train is an absolutely condemnable act.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a criminal act, which endangered the lives of people, employees and passers-by, in a central point of Athens and during peak traffic hours. <\/p>\n \u201cNothing justifies terrorism<\/a>, no act of violence brings justice.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image_4fb088.png\")
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