Israel warns Hamas over rockets

Tzipi Livni went to Cairo at the invitation of Egypt's government

Israeli leaders have issued stern warnings to Palestinian militant group Hamas to stop rocket attacks on Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he would not hesitate to strike Hamas and another militant group, Islamic Jihad, in the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni warned Israel "cannot tolerate" Palestinian militants targeting Israeli citizens.

Some 50 rockets have been launched from Gaza in recent days, after the killing of three Hamas members by Israel.

A six-month ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas ended last week.

'Enough is enough'

Speaking after talks with the Egyptian leadership in Cairo on the failed ceasefire in Gaza, Ms Livni described the latest escalation as "unbearable".

Ehud Olmert appeals to the people of Gaza to turn against Hamas. Courtesy Al-Arabiya TV

"Hamas needs to understand that our aspiration to live in peace doesn't mean that Israel is going to take this kind of situation any longer. Enough is enough," she said.

The BBC's Christian Fraser says some will see the visit as the first of several diplomatic steps Israel must take before launching military action.

Mr Olmert called on residents of Gaza to stop militants "firing on innocent civilians", in an interview with the Arab television station Al-Arabiya.

"I say to you in a last-minute call, stop it," Mr Olmert said, Israeli media reported.

"Don't let Hamas, which is acting against the values of Islam, put you in danger. Stop them. Stop your enemies and ours."

Mr Olmert added: "I will not hesitate to use Israel's might to strike Hamas and [Islamic] Jihad. How? I will not go into details now."

Egyptian anger

Ms Livni had earlier been holding talks with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who brokered the ceasefire.

Mr Aboul Gheit urged restraint from both sides, and said Egypt would continue to act as a mediator but admitted that a new truce currently seemed unlikely.

Relations between Egypt and Gaza are strained, our correspondent says.

President Mubarak has told the militants he believes they are making a mistake in abandoning the ceasefire.

It is widely understood the Egyptians are furious with Hamas for boycotting peace talks with Fatah last month, which were due to be held in Cairo.

The question now, our correspondent says, is whether the Egyptians would back an Israeli military offensive against Hamas.

The London-based newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi has reported that Egypt would not object to a limited Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip, aimed at toppling Hamas.

Ms Livni travelled to the Egyptian capital at the personal invitation of the government.

This is rare given that Mr Mubarak usually only meets Israeli officials in the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

It is being read as an Egyptian endorsement of Tzipi Livni, who is seeking to become prime minister in February's general election.

It has been noted that President Mubarak has not yet invited for talks the Defence Minister and Labour Chairman Ehud Barak, who is also a prime ministerial hopeful.

Massive Israeli air raids on Gaza

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The missile strikes caused panic in Gaza

Israeli F-16 bombers have pounded key targets across the Gaza Strip, killing at least 195 people, medics say.

Gaza officials and the Hamas militant group said more than 300 others were hurt as missiles hit security compounds and militant bases.

The strikes, the most intense Israeli attacks on Gaza for decades, come days after a truce with Hamas expired.

Israel said it was responding to an escalation in rocket attacks from Gaza and would bomb "as long as necessary".

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said "it won't be easy and it won't be short".

"There is a time for calm and a time for fighting, and now the time has come to fight," he said, quoted by Reuters.

Palestinian militants frequently fire rockets against Israeli towns from inside the Gaza Strip; large numbers of rocket and mortar shells have been fired at Israel in recent days.

In a statement, Israel's military said it targeted "Hamas terror operatives" as well as training camps and weapons storage warehouses.

A Hamas police spokesman, Islam Shahwan, said one of the raids targeted a police compound in Gaza City where a graduation ceremony for new personnel was taking place.

At least a dozen bodies of men in black uniforms were photographed at the Hamas police headquarters in Gaza City.

Hamas will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood, Fawzi Barhoum Hamas spokesman In pictures: Gaza attack aftermath UK concern over Gaza raid Malnutrition and shortages in Gaza Israel warns Hamas over rockets

Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni defended the air raids, saying Israel had "no choice". "We're doing what we need to do to defend our citizens," she said in a television broadcast.

Israel hit targets across Gaza, striking in the territory's main population centres, including Gaza City in the north and the southern towns of Khan Younis and Rafah.

In the West Bank, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas - whose Fatah faction was ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007 - condemned the attacks and called for restraint.

But Hamas quickly vowed to carry out revenge attacks on Israel in response to the air strikes, firing Qassam rockets into Israeli territory as an immediate reply.

At least one Israeli was killed by a rocket strike in the town of Netivot, doctors said.

"Hamas will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood," spokesman Fawzi Barhoum was reported as saying.

Israel also stood firm, saying operations "will continue, will be expanded, and will deepen if necessary".

It is the worst attack in Gaza since 1967 in terms of the number of Palestinian casualties, a senior analyst told the BBC in Jerusalem.

The air strikes come amid rumours that an Israeli ground operation is imminent.

Calls for ceasefire

International reaction was swift and expressed concern, with many world leaders calling for calm and an immediate ceasefire.

Civilians were caught up in the air strikes in heavily-populated Gaza

A White House spokesman said the United States "urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza".

"Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop," the spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, added.

The UK Foreign Office said: "We urge maximum restraint to avoid further civilian casualties."

The French presidency of the EU meanwhile called for an immediate halt to the shooting by both sides.

At least 30 missiles were fired by F-16 fighter bombers. Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that some 60 warplanes took part in the first wave of air strikes.

Hamas said all of its security compounds in Gaza were destroyed by the air strikes, which Israel said hit some 40 targets across the territory.

Mosques issued urgent appeals for people to donate blood and Hamas sources told the BBC's Rushdi Abou Alouf in Gaza that hospitals were soon full.

Egypt opened its border crossing to the Gaza Strip at Rafah to absorb and treat some of those injured in the south of the territory.

Most of the dead and injured were said to be in Gaza City, where Hamas's main security compound was destroyed. The head of Gaza's police forces, Tawfik Jaber, was reportedly among those killed.

A resident describes the attacks in Gaza

Images from the targeted areas showed dead and injured Palestinians, burning and destroyed buildings, and scenes of panic and chaos on Gaza's crowded streets.

Residents spoke of children heading to and from school at the time of the attacks, and there were fears of civilian casualties.

Reuters news agency said at least 20 people were thought to have died in Khan Younis.

Israeli security officials have been briefing about the possibility of a new offensive into Gaza for some days now, says the BBC's Paul Wood, in Jerusalem.

But most reports centred on the possibility of a ground offensive, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was not expected to authorise any operation until Sunday at the earliest.

Although a six-month truce between Hamas and Israel was agreed earlier this year, it was regularly under strain and was allowed to lapse when it expired this month.

Hamas blamed Israel for the end of the ceasefire, saying it had not respected its terms, including the lifting of the blockade under which little more than humanitarian aid has been allowed into Gaza.

Israel said it initially began a staged easing of the blockade, but this was halted when Hamas failed to fulfil what Israel says were agreed conditions, including ending all rocket fire and halting weapons smuggling.

Israel says the blockade - in place since Hamas took control of Gaza in June 2007 - is needed to isolate Hamas and stop it and other militants from firing rockets across the border at Israeli towns

UK marine killed on Christmas Eve

Eleven Royal Marines have been killed in Afghanistan in the past two months

A Royal Marine was killed in Afghanistan on Christmas Eve, the Ministry of Defence has said.

The marine, from 42 Commando, died from enemy fire in the Nad-e-Ali district near Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.

Military spokeswoman Commander Paula Rowe said the death was "particularly poignant" so close to Christmas. The marine's family has been informed.

Some 136 UK troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, including 11 Royal Marines in the past two months.

'Dedicated professional'

Commander Rowe said: "The death of this Royal Marine is a tragic loss and coming so close to Christmas, this is particularly poignant.

This dedicated professional risked his life to help bring security and stability to the people of Afghanistan Capt Mark Windsor Nato spokesman Muted festivities for UK troops

"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this dreadfully sad time."

Nato spokesman Capt Mark Windsor, of the Royal Navy, expressed sadness at the marine's death.

Capt Windsor said: "This dedicated professional risked his life to help bring security and stability to the people of Afghanistan.

"[Nato's] International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) will continue to fight for the cause for which this brave serviceman gave his life."

The MoD said 42 Commando were spending Christmas Day out on operations as usual despite the death of the marine.

UK playwright Harold Pinter dies

Many of Pinter's plays are considered classics

Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter has died aged 78.

Pinter, who died on Christmas Eve, had been suffering from liver cancer, it is understood.

Pinter wrote more than 30 plays including The Caretaker and The Birthday Party. His film scripts include The French Lieutenant's Woman.

His second wife, Lady Antonia Fraser, told the Guardian newspaper: "He was a great, and it was a privilege to live with him for over 33 years."

He had been due to pick up an honorary degree earlier this month from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London but was forced to withdraw due to illness.

Political views

BBC Creative Director Alan Yentob told the BBC: "He was a unique figure in British theatre. He has dominated the theatre scene since the 1950s."

Michael Billington, Pinter's friend and biographer, said the writer was a great man as well as a great playwright.

He told Sky News: "Harold was a political figure, a polemicist and carried on fierce battles against American foreign policy and often British foreign policy, but in private he was the most incredibly loyal of friends and generous of human beings."

Harold Pinter in The Birthday Party

Also an actor, poet, screenwriter and director, Pinter was known for his left-wing political views and was an outspoken critic of US and UK foreign policy.

Veteran politician Tony Benn said Pinter was a great figure on the political scene.

"His death will leave a huge gap that will be felt by the whole political spectrum," he said.

Pinter won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005 and the citation said "in his plays he uncovers the precipice in everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms".

He was awarded a CBE in 1966, later turned down a knighthood and became a Companion of Honour, an exclusive award in the gift of the Sovereign, in 2002.

Pinter was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in 2002 and following treatment, announced that he was on the road to recovery.

Three years later, he announced that he had given up writing for the theatre in order to concentrate on political work.

The adjective "Pinteresque" is included in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Dollar is key to Zimbabwe survival

Zimbabweans queue for the new $500 million banknote in Harare

By Karen Allen BBC News, Zimbabwe

Last week the reserve bank issued a new Zimbabwean banknote - a $500m bill. Its value changes by the day, but a rough estimate of its worth now is about US $50 (£33).

Its release was enough to see a surge of people flock onto the streets and form huge queues outside the banks. Harare's pavements were gridlocked for most of the day.

But increasingly it is only US dollars that are accepted in Zimbabwe's shops. Petrol stations are among those now turning away people who offer fistfuls of local currency.

Even water bills - for what little clean water there is - have to be paid in hard US cash. And bread is now a dollar commodity in many parts of the country.

'Dollarisation'

There has been a surge in cross-border trade in recent weeks with the lifting of restrictions on US dollar transactions.

Consumer goods, food and cars are being brought across from neighbouring South Africa.

To get (US) dollars I have to do assignments abroad… there are not many Zimbabweans who can do that Professor John Makombe, University of Zimbabwe

Supermarkets are now stuffed with food, filling shelves that just a month or so ago were empty.

These supermarkets are for Zimbabwe's tiny dollar elite - the type that drive brand new cars into the car parks as others try to fend off starvation. They only accept US dollar bills in these swanky shops.

John Makombe, professor of political science at the University of Zimbabwe, estimates that 80% of the population here has no access to US dollar bills.

"Even I sometimes don't have foreign currency and I'm a university professor. To get dollars I have to do assignments abroad," he says. "There are not many Zimbabweans who can do that."

The value of Professor Makumbe's monthly salary, he reveals, is equivalent to US $30. That is just a little more than the price of a jar of instant coffee in the supermarkets which have become a refuge of the dollar rich.

The "dollarisation" of the Zimbabwean financial system is propping up a collapsed Zimbabwean economy.

But it has created an unwieldy free market where the government, unable to control basic prices, is merely a bystander.

A shortage of change and small US banknotes is now creating a new US dollar inflation.

"Zimbabwe is like a house of cards… one puff and it could come down," says a Zimbabwe-based Western diplomat with a depressed tone. "The problem is… there isn't the puff to blow it down."

It seems to be an accurate observation. Massive food shortages, hyperinflation, cholera and continued political turmoil are a heady cocktail.

In any other country in the world, this combination might have triggered a coup. But not here. People are simply too scared.

Critics vanished

Journalists, human rights activists and other critics of Robert Mugabe's presidency have recently vanished.

Many Zimbabweans do not have access to foreign currency

More than 20 people have disappeared in just the past few weeks - people are terrified.

Reporting the Zimbabwe story is risky for all concerned - not least those on the other side of the microphone.

Not surprisingly many are reluctant to speak out - yet thankfully, some still do. Like Elliot and Molly - a retired couple now living on a small farm, whose geographical details I dare not divulge for fear they are punished for speaking to me.

"Africa needs to be responsible for its own problems," says Elliot boldly. "It's about our own mismanagement… we can't blame former colonies like Britain."

It is a sentiment that runs deep here, though few will speak openly about it.

When I arrived tensions were high following the disappearance of Jestina Mukoko - a prominent human rights campaigner and former journalist, who had allegedly been abducted.

Her safety has been playing on the minds of so many here ever since. Yet Zimbabwe's neighbours continue to offer legitimacy to Robert Mugabe.

Despite a power-sharing deal back in September, he still holds all the cards. He is revered as a liberation hero by many influential figures on the continent, with just Botswana and Kenya breaking rank and speaking out.

One political campaigner for the opposition MDC described the present climate in Zimbabwe as "coerced control" - an environment where intimidation rules.

It means that ordinary Zimbabweans, already enduring so much, may still face the prospect of worse to come - resisting the instinct to revolt with a sense of fear.

Tutu accuses S Africa over Mugabe

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has accused South Africa of losing the moral high ground by failing to stand up to Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe.

The Noble peace-prize winner told the BBC that using force should be an option to get rid of Mr Mugabe.

Archbishop Tutu also said he was saddened that his own country appeared not to be on the side of Zimbabweans.

He said: "How much more suffering is going to make us say 'No we have given Mr Mugabe enough time?'"

Archbishop Desmond Tutu also said South Africa had a leadership role as its president chairs the Southern African Development Community.

But he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that South Africa had instead betrayed its legacy by blocking firmer action from the United Nations.

I have to say that I am deeply, deeply distressed that we should be found not on the side of the ones who are suffering Archbishop Desmond Tutu

He added: "I want to say first of all that I have been very deeply disappointed, saddened by the position that South Africa has taken at the United Nations Security Council in being an obstacle to the security council dealing with that matter.

"And I have to say that I am deeply, deeply distressed that we should be found not on the side of the ones who are suffering.

"I certainly am ashamed of what they've done in the United Nations.

"For the world to say no, we are waiting for South Africa's membership of the Security Council to lapse and then we can take action."

That, the Archbishop, said, was an "awful indictment" to a country that had a "proud record of a struggle against a vicious system".

He said: "We should have been the ones who for a very long time occupied the moral high ground.

"I'm afraid we have betrayed our legacy."

The Archbishop's comments come as Foreign Secretary David Miliband has written to the Times newspaper, describing Mr Mugabe as a "stain" on Zimbabwe and reaffirming Britain's view that he has to go.

Military 'seizes power' in Guinea

Many analysts had predicted the army would take over after Mr Conte died

A Guinea army statement has announced the dissolution of the government, after President Lansana Conte's death.

An army officer said on state radio a "consultative council" of civilian and military chiefs would be set up. The EU and African Union condemned the move.

All ministers and other top officials have been summoned to the main military camp "to guarantee their security".

But Guinea Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare said the government "continues to function as it should".

And National Assembly Speaker Aboubacar Sompare, the constitutional successor, told French television there had been an attempted rebellion but he did not think the entire military was behind it.

'Long illness'

He announced earlier that President Conte, who ruled the West African country with an iron fist for 24 years, had died on Monday night after a "long illness". Forty days of national mourning have been declared.

The cause of his death is unknown, but Mr Conte, 74, was a chain-smoker and diabetic who is also believed to have suffered from leukaemia.

BBC West Africa correspondent Will Ross says it is important to see whether the army is united, as a power struggle could be extremely dangerous given the country's deep ethnic divisions.

Guinea's neighbours - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast - are enjoying relative stability after years of conflict and there are fears any unrest there could spread and embroil the sub-region in fighting once more.

'Stay at home'

Only hours after the announcement of the president's death, a junior army officer went on state radio to say the army had taken over, and a body called the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) set up.

Lansana Conte seized power in 1984 and won three controversial elections Obituary: Guinea's Lansana Conte Guinea army statement in full

"As of today, the constitution is suspended as well as political and union activity," said Capt Moussa Dadis Camara. "The government and the institutions of the republic have been dissolved."

Capt Camara, who is head of the army's fuel supplies unit, said an interim council would be set up to root out corruption and organise fair elections.

Announcers said the officer was speaking on behalf of the entire military, although this has not been independently confirmed.

A later statement by the CNDD told ministers to present themselves at the Alpha Yaya Diallo military camp "to guarantee their security". It also ordered people not to loot and to stay at home.

"Public assemblies are formally forbidden," it added.

Soldiers have set up check-points along the main roads into the city centre, but so far there have been no reports of them being heavy-handed or harassing people BBC correspondent Alhassan Sillah, Conakry Fear in Guinea at army takeover

African Union peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra told the BBC: "This is a blatant violation of the Guinean constitution and a violation of African legality."

Former colonial power France - in its capacity as the current holder of the European Union's rotating six-month presidency - said it would oppose any attempted putsch in Guinea and called for free and transparent elections.

The BBC's Alhassan Sillah in the capital, Conakry, said soldiers have set up check-points along the main roads into the city centre, but so far there have been no reports of them being heavy-handed.

Vehicles checked

Vehicles are checked briefly and waved through, he says.

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Earlier, the leader of the Union for the Progress of Guinea and the secretary of the opposition alliance, Frad, Jean-Marie Dore, called for a peaceful transition of power.

Veteran opposition leader Alpha Konde returned to Guinea on Sunday after 15 months of self-imposed exile in France. He left Guinea after being released from jail.

According to the constitution the National Assembly speaker should be in charge until a presidential election is held within 60 days.

The BBC's Will Ross says many analysts had predicted the army would try to take over following Mr Conte's death because he had been increasingly relying on it to shore up his oppressive rule.

Despite Guinea's mineral wealth, it is one of West Africa's poorest nations

General Conte came to power in 1984 at the head of a military coup to fill the vacuum left by the sudden death of his predecessor, Sekou Toure, who had been president since independence from France in 1958.

He eventually oversaw a return to civilian rule and was elected three times, although critics said the votes were never free or fair.

As his health declined over the last five years, it was often unclear who was in charge and the government barely functioned, our correspondent says.

Although Guinea's mineral wealth makes it potentially one of Africa's richest countries, its population of about 10 million is among the poorest in the region.

Impossible task for UN in DR Congo

Creating a robust force from the disparate elements of the UN contingent is not proving easy

By David Loyn International development correspondent, BBC News

The UN peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo is already the largest, most expensive and most muscular of its kind anywhere in the world, but its troops have been unable or unwilling to prevent civilians from being killed in the worsening conflict.

It was sent under the UN's strongest possible mandate - Chapter Seven - giving the soldiers in it the right to use "all necessary means" - that is, lethal force, to impose their will.

The call for 3,000 extra troops, made by the UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, comes six weeks after an urgent appeal for that number of troops came from the civilian head of the mission on the ground, Alan Doss.

During that time security became far worse.

Several thousand people have been forced from their homes and from resettlement camps, and many have been killed, including at least 26 earlier this month in Kiwanja.

This incident was called a war crime by UN observers, and yet it happened virtually within sight of a UN military base.

Civilian protection

The force is drawn from 18 nations. The largest contingent, more than 4,000 troops, comes from India, one of the more competent armies in the world.

India's South Asian neighbours - Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal - are the only other countries with more than 1,000 troops in the UN force.

FORCES AROUND GOMA CNDP: Gen Nkunda's Tutsi rebels - 6,000 fighters FDLR: Rwandan Hutus - 6,000-7,000 Mai Mai: pro-government militia - 3,500 Monuc: UN peacekeepers - 6,000 in North Kivu, including about 1,000 around Goma (17,000 nationwide) DRC army - 90,000 (nationwide) Source: UN, military experts

The contributions from other countries go down to six soldiers from Serbia.

Knitting this disparate group of nations into a force that is robust enough to deal with the challenges of DR Congo has proved a hard task.

Although the UN secretary general has belatedly responded to the request by his representative on the ground to send more, it is hard to see where extra forces would come from.

In August Mr Doss denied suggestions made in an Oxfam report that his forces were not making the protection of civilians their priority.

And he said that there was no inconsistency between this and the efforts of the force to bring an end to the fighting and persuade troops to lay down their arms.

The weakness of the force comes partly from its size - around 16,500 troops - outnumbered 1,000 to 1 by the civilian population in a huge region where roads are poor.

'Doomed to fail'

Opposing it are a bewildering array of rebel forces, driven by ethnic hatred and a desire for a share of the huge mineral wealth available in the region.

The largest rebel forces are much better motivated and equipped than government forces.

The failure of government forces was one of the factors that appears to have been behind the resignation of the Spanish commanding officer of the UN force.

General Vicente Diaz de Villegas pulled out after less than two months in the job just as the fighting intensified late last month.

He has not spoken publicly but sources quoted by a Rwandan newspaper which first reported his resignation say that he believed the UN military mission was ''doomed to fail''.

Supporters of the mission point to its successes until this year, and its successful defence of Goma, a prize that is clearly a target of the rebels.

But the wider aims of the mission, in disarming and re-integrating rebel forces into a joint defence force for the region have been sidelined as the war intensifies.

New mandate for DR Congo UN force

The DR Congo peacekeeping force is the UN's largest

The UN has extended the mandate of its peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo by a year.

The resolution gives the force the authority to protect civilians not only from rebel groups but also from renegade Congolese government soldiers.

The peacekeepers have been struggling to contain recent fighting between government troops and rebels that has forced more than 250,000 to flee.

They have been criticised for failing to contain the violence.

The new UN mandate provides for the deployment of about 22,000 soldiers and police, and observers.

After fighting broke out in eastern DR Congo at the end of August, some government troops joined in the looting.

The UN force in DR Congo, Monuc, is due to receive an additional 3,000 peacekeepers in the coming months.

But few countries have so far offered to help, our correspondent says.

The European Union has failed to respond to requests that its members provide the bulk of the new forces, he says.

Search tactics

The recent fighting, near DR Congo's border with Rwanda, has pitted rebels led by Laurent Nkunda against government troops and pro-government militia.

A UN report issued last week accused both Rwanda and DR Congo of directly helping rebel groups.

The new mandate approved by the UN Security Council directs Monuc to focus on the protection of civilians.

It calls on the mission "to concentrate progressively during the coming year its action in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo," reports said.

It also says the force should try to prevent violence, including by using "cordon and search" tactics and seeking to prevent attacks on civilians while disrupting the military capability of illegal armed groups.

Sir John Sawers, the British ambassador to the UN, welcomed the new mandate, which he said was "more focussed".

"It also includes an important clarification of the relationship between Monuc and the government security forces, which should help address some of the issues Monuc faced in the recent fighting," he said.

Athens sees more violent clashes

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Firebombs are thrown in Athens' streets

Greek police have again clashed with demonstrators in Athens, two weeks after the fatal shooting of a teenager by police sparked nationwide unrest.

The violence followed a memorial gathering at the site where Alexandros Grigoropoulos died on 6 December.

Groups of demonstrators threw rocks and petrol bombs at police, who responded with volleys of tear gas.

Protests in Athens and other cities in the past fortnight over the police killing have often turned violent.

Greece's worst unrest in decades is fuelled by anger at high youth unemployment and unpopular government reforms.

The protests have caused hundreds of millions of euros in damage, rocking a conservative government that has a one-seat majority and trails the opposition in polls.

Tree attacked

The protesters in Athens are using the National Technical University of Athens - known as the Polytechnic - as a base.

It is located near the central Athens neighbourhood of Exarchia where 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropolous was killed.

Protesters have set up barricades outside the Athens Polytechnic

Security forces are not allowed on the grounds of the Polytechnic without permission from the university's administrators. No such authorisation has been given.

A group of youths attacked the Christmas tree in Syntagma Square in central Athens, tossing rubbish at it and attempting to set it on fire.

Riot police ringed the tree, which itself was a replacement for one burnt down at the height of the rioting, on 8 December.

The policeman accused of shooting Alexandros Grigoropoulos has been charged with murder.

Conservative Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has rejected calls to step down, despite growing public pressure.

But he has acknowledged that "long-unresolved problems, such as the lack of meritocracy, corruption in everyday life and a sense of social injustice" are fuelling the anger of young people.

In pictures: Mumbai aftermath

YOUR PICTURE GALLERY IS NOW LOADING...

A sense of the ferocity of the assault on Mumbai over the course of three days is visible at sites across the Indian city.

At Nariman House, which was targeted by the militants, forensic experts searched the wrecked premises.

The damage inside Nariman House, the base of orthodox Jewish organisation Chabad-Lubavitch, bears witness to the violence.

The organisation's rabbi and his wife both died here, but their two-year-old son was rescued.

Outside the Taj Mahal hotel, which was also badly damaged in the attacks, clearing up continues.

Memorials to the dead have been created across the city.

The laying of flowers and the lighting of candles is ubiquitous.

The grief caused by a group of young men determined to cause mayhem is incalculable.

Hospitals across the city are treating the many wounded

And the shock of recent days has begun to turn to anger.