An Athens police officer from the MAT unit (Riot police unit), who was standing guard at the Greek Ministry of Culture, was shot early on Monday morning with an AK-47 assault rifle. The assault was carried out by two unidentified masked men, as reported by TA NEA.

More than 20 7.62mm rounds were fired at the officer who was admitted to hospital in a critical condition.

The incident occurred in the notorious Exarchia Square, fortress of the Greek anarchists close to the Politechnic University on Patission Avenue. A number of people have been detained for interrogation and Athens police are investigating whether the assault rifle from Monday's attack was the same as that used when a MAT bus was fired at before Christmas with two rounds.

The murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos in early December by a stray police round triggered the biggest riots in Greece since November 17 1973.

The Politechnic University was the scene of a massacre in 1973 and the formation of the Marxist paramilitary group, November 17. The group's name, 17N, refers to the final day of the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising, involving protests against the Greek Military Junta (1967-1974), also known as the Regime of the Colonels. Members of N17 are held responsible for the assassination of many American military personnel, Turkish press attaches and other officials, as well as the assassination of British Brigadier Stephen Saunders, a military attache in Athens who was killed on June 8 2000 by motorcycle gunmen, members of 17N.

Every year in Athens, on November 17, Greek anarchists, university students, KKE (Greek Communist Party) and many others congregate for peaceful marches from the University, on Patission Avenue, up to Vassilis Sofias avenue where the US embassy is located, with fights and disturbances usually occurring later in the evenings around the notorious Exarchia Square, Stadiu Street, Omonia Square and the Polytechnic University.